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WOOLEN AND WORSTED 
LOOMFIXING 



A BOOK 



FOR LOOMFIXERS 



AND 



ALL WHO ARE INTERESTED IN THE PRODUCTION OF 

PLAIN AND FANCY WORSTEDS AND 

WOOLENS 



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ALBEIRT AINLEY 



Lawrence, Massachusetts 
1900 



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Copyright 1900 



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PREFACE. 

The particular subject on which this work 
treats is "The Knowles Heavy Woolen Loom " 
but the subject matter in general, with the ex- 
ception of certain specific points is applicable 
to almost any woolen loom. The troubles, 
causes, and treatment being very much the 
same in general on one loom as on another. 

It is not intended in this book to explain 
how the different looms are made nor what the 
different parts are for, as that is unnecessary 
to a loomfixer, and furthermore would require 
too large a volume to suit the author's purpose ; 
but to discuss as much as possible, the various 
problems with which a fixer has to grapple. 

The author's first intention in this line was 
simply to make notes of all the various reme- 
dies, little tricks etc., valuable to a loomfixer, 
that should come to his knowledge, either 
through instruction, experience, observation or 
in any other way while in the prime of life so 
that in future years, when his memory begins 
to fail him, as it has done to many men who 
were good fixers in their day, he will have 
something to refer to. And it may be said 
here, after having made up his mind to pub- 



II PREFACE 

lish the work in book form, that he would have 
given a good deal, earlier in life to have known 
some of the things herein contained. 

It will no doubt be worth its cost many a 
time over to young fixers who have not yet ac- 
quired the experience of an older hand, and it 
may be used at least as a reminder to an old 
fixer. 

Of course if a man is not a loomfixer, all the 
books ever published would not make him one. 
If he cannot fix looms without a book, he can- 
not do so with one. But any one who has not 
had the experience, or whose 'mind is too occu- 
pied with something else, some trouble with 
another loom for instance, so that at the time 
being, he does not think of things of vital im- 
portance, may find a discourse on the sub- 
ject to save him a great amount of experiment- 
ing. Or it may bring to mind some remedy 
which he had used successfully on former sim- 
ilar occasions. 

There are two things that are absolutely 
necessary to the making of a good loomfixer : 
they are gumption and experience. The latter, 
though a necessary assistant to the former can 
never be sufficiently acquired to take its place 
altogether. 

The work of a loomfixer may be classed into 
two parts, viz : Mental and physical ; a large 



PREFACE III 

proportion of the fancy loomfixer's work being 
of the former kind ; comprising principally, 
such things as hunting for the causes of the 
different things that will occur on a section of 
looms. Trying to get a good smooth pick on 
a loom, which by the way is sometimes a very 
difficult thing to do. Trying to remedy a case 
of filling cutting ; having trouble with the head 
motion, harness skips, for instance. Loom- 
banging through uneven picking power ; un- 
steady box-motion ; shuttle going crooked etc. 
These things at times will tax the ingenuity of 
the best fixer that ever attempted to learn the 
language of a loom. It is this part of the loom- 
fixer's work which the author has herein at- 
tempted to discuss. 

The manual part of a loomfixer's work, com- 
prising such things as replacing broken picker- 
sticks, pickers, and other parts are things on 
which it is not necessary to dwell to any great 
extent, though at times it requires considerable 
skill to do even that part of his work to the 
best advantage ; in fact there is skill in every- 
thing. Even the man who uses the pick and 
shovel may become so skillful at it that he can 
do perhaps twice the amount of work with the 
same exertion that another man would have to 
use who was not accustomed to that kind of 
work. He would know just where to dig in 



IV PREFACE 

with his pickaxe and at what angle, etc. which 
the unskilled would not have learned. 

Generally speaking (but not always by any 
means), it is an easy matter to fix a loom after 
the cause of the trouble has been located ; but 
whenever it is thought advisable, not only is 
the probable cause pointed out, but suggestions 
are offered as to the best way to go about fix- 
ing it. 

While there may be some important points 
in loomfixing omitted through oversight, there 
are a great many things left out purposely. 
Things which all loomfixers must necessarily 
know about, consequently there is no need to 
take up the space in this book with them. 
Someone has said that a loom talks, but alas ! 
how difficult is its language to learn ! A young 
fixer may think he understands it thoroughly 
but as he grows older and begins to see a little 
deeper into things, he finds out that he does 
not understand it as well as he thought he did, 
and bye and bye he sometimes begins to think 
he does not understand it at all. 

Of the origin or history of weaving the au- 
thor has got nothing to say, but the progress 
that has been made in the art of manufacturing 
in general during the last thirty or forty years 
is such, that now we find machinery almost en- 
tirely automatic. Cotton looms are made at 



PREFACE V 

the present day that will run for more than an 
hour without the attention of a weaver and pro- 
duce perfect cloth. 

One cannot think seriously of these things 
without the thought suggesting itself that the 
time has come when women and children, 
yes and even men, should not be required to 
work and be confined in the mill ten hours a 
day to earn a scanty living. If anyone thinks 
that that is not too long, let him look into the 
weary, careworn faces of the mill operatives as 
they come out at night or before they get out 
into the open air, and if he is a man who tries 
to live up to the divine law he will alter his 
opinion. 

This book, to be used to the best advan- 
tage, should be kept with you at your work 
where it will be handy and whenever you have 
any trouble with anything for which at the 
time you do not think of a remedy, just turn to 
that subject and see what is said on it. The 
chances are that if you do not find any satis- 
factory solution in it, there will be something 
suggested that will help you to invent one. 

A. AINLEY, 
Lawrence, Mass. 



CONTENTS, 



Chapter I. The Belt 7 

Tight Belts. Belt Dressing. ... 8 

The Friction Pulley, .... J> 

Chapter II. The Picking Motion ... 12 

The Cause of Occasional Weak Picks . 20 

Chapter III. The Shuttle Binder. ... 22 

Chapter IV. Banging Off. . . . . 2f> 

Chapter V. Filling Kinking 31 

Warp Kinking. ..... 35 

Chapter VI. Filling Cutting 30 

Chapter VII. The Filling Stopmotion . . 41 

Chapter VIII. Crooked and Flying Shuttles . 40 

Packing Out the Picker-Rod Stand . . 48 

Shuttle Flying Out 49 

Chapter IX, Box Jumping. .... 50 

Bending the Box- Rod .... 53 

Chapter X. Bobbin Splitting 54 

Filling Slipping off the Bobbin . . 55 

The Temple 56 

Chapter XI. The Headmotion .... 59 

Setting the Reverse Gears ... 64 

Setting the Box Motion .... 65 

Chaj-'TER XII. Putting Warps In . . . 69 

Uneven Weaving ..... 71 

Shady Piece Dyes . . . . . 74 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Chapter XIII. To Adjust and Start a New Loom 75 

Position of the Whip Roll ... 75 

How to Handle Bad Warps ... 76 

Tender and Twitty Yarn .... 78 

Chafing and Buttoning Behind the Reed 79 

Chapter XIV. Chain Building .... 80 

The Chain Multiplier .... 82 

Picker-Sticks SpHtting .... 83 

Picking Arms Breaking . • . . 84 

Box-Rod and Spring .... 86 

Chapter XV. Shuttles 87 

Failing to Hold the Bobbin ... 88 

The Sand Roller 89 

Two Holes in the Picker ... 90 

FiUing Catching around the Picker . . 90 

Oihng Up 91 

Chapter XVI. Points on Loom Selection . . 93 

The Take-Up Motion .... 95 

The Sino^le Picking^ Motion ... 95 

Chapter XVII. Getting and Keeping a Section 

of Looms in Good Condition ... 96 

Chapter XVIII. Miscellany. . . .101 



CHAPTER I. 



THE BELT. 

Belts should not be put on to a loom in any 
manner, whichever end comes first ; they should 
be put on so that the splicings on the outside 
will follow. This is contrary to the teachings 
of some writers on this subject. They claim 
that the lap on the inside of the belt should go 
with the pulley ; if so, the end of the lap on 
the outside would lead, and that is wrong, for 
the simple reason that, on account of the out- 
side of the belt where it is passing around the 
pulley being considerably tighter than the inside, 
the laps whenever they do start at all do so on 
the outside, consequently the laps on the out 
side should not lead, but follow, so as to avoid 
contact with the air, which of itself is sufficient 
to open out the splice after it has once started. 
The statement that the slipping of the belt 
would cause the lap to roll is all nonsense, be- 
cause if such a thing was possible in one direc- 
tion it would be in the other. The driving 
pulley would do it in one direction ^nd the 
driven pulley would do it in the other. 



8 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

The question has often been asked "Which 
is the best side of a belt to run to the pulley ?" 

There is no doubt that the smooth side has 
a little greater pulling power than the flesh side, 
but the difference is very small indeed. The 
flesh side, being the shorter side, fits more 
snugly to the pulley, and belts that are run on 
that side will last longer than the other way, — 
in the writer's estimation. 

TIGHT BELTS are no advantage to a loom, 
but rather a disadvantage to the steady running 
of it Any lurch or back-lash in the speed is 
communicated to the loom when the belt is too 
tight but if it is moderately slack the loom is 
not run so rigidly. 

BELT DRESSING. If the belt is slipping 
it is not the best thing you can do to tighten it 
up, unless it is very slack. It should have the 
accumulation of dust, dried belt-dressing and 
flyings cleaned off the surface and some good 
dressing applied. The dressing in some cases 
seems to get dried on very quickly, leaving a 
dry, hard surface. When this is the case it 
should be well oiled ; not with lubricating oil, 
but castor oil or Neat's foot oil or something of 
that nature that will make the surface soft and 
pliable but not soak it with grease. 

Every fixer should have a hand card of fine 
wire tacked on to a block of wood for the pur- 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 9 

pose of cleaning his belts, but it should not be 
used so hard as to make the surface rough. A 
rough surface does not pull as well as a smooth 
one if it is kept clean and soft. Cross belts 
very seldom need any attention as they are self- 
cleaning. They are the best on a loom. 

It is a poor policy to lace loom belts, the or- 
dinary belt fasteners are far better. In the 
fic£t place they can be applied in less than a 
quarter of the time that it takes to lace one, 
they give less trouble and if properly applied 
will last a great deal longer. The belt should 
be hammered on to the clasp, not the clasp on 
to the belt, and care should be taken not to 
flatten it out or the belt would have a tendency 
to leave it when passing around the pulley. 



THE FRICTION PULLEY. 

The friction pulley plays a very important 
part in the running of a Knowles loom or 
perhaps any other loom where a friction pul- 
ley is used, especially on heavy work. 

On some weaves where there are more har- 
nesses changing places on one pick than on 
another, a poor friction will cause a loss of 
power and result in loom banging off. 

Of course there are other things besides loss 
of power that will cause a loom to bang off, but 



10 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

that subject is treated more fully later on. To 
overcome this trouble find out in the first in- 
stance whether it is the friction pulley or the 
belt that is slipping the most. This can be 
done in the following manner : take the shuttle 
out of the box, hold the brake lever down with 
your foot and start the loom up. Watch the 
loose pulley ; if it stops you will know that the 
friction is holding and that the belt is slipping. 
But if it is the friction that is slipping, find out 
first (to use the fixer's term) if there is friction 
enough on. If not, draw it up a little closer. 
Next, see that the counter shaft is properly 
blocked so that it can't slide forward. If after 
seeing that these things are all right, the 
friction is still slipping, it is probably greasy. 
A greasy friction is an abomination and the 
best way to get over it, if it is badly soaked, is 
to take it off and have it recovered. Every 
mill should have spare friction pulleys so as to 
avoid waiting. If you prefer to use it a little 
longer, scrape the grease off with a straight 
edged scraper and rub some dry slacked lime 
into it and it will be good for a while longer. 
The above directions are also a good thing to 
follow in cases where the loom does not stop 
quickly enough. But first see that the wooden 
block in the casting at the end of the counter 
shaft is the proper thickness to hold the shaft 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 11 

properly ; not to bind, but prevent it from slip- 
ping forward. Because, if when you start the 
loom the counter shaft should move forward, 
say one-twelfth inch, it would slide back the 
same amount when you stop it ; thus, if the fric- 
tion is a little sticky the loom would be likely to 
run a couple of picks after you had tried to 
stop it. 

• Never scrub the leather on the friction pulley 
with sand paper, as that spoils its surface but 
does it no good. 

TURNING IT DOWN. Whenever you put 
on a new friction pulley and after it has run a 
little while you are not satisfied with it, take 
the shaft out and examine the surface of the 
leather, and you will probably find that it only 
touches here and there ; consequently it does 
not get a good hold. In that case it should be 
put into a lathe and turned down good and 
true. You will then have a good friction after 
it has run a few days. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE PICKING IVIOTION. 

The picking motion in general is a very sen- 
sitive part of a loom. 

It requires a great amount of skill and gump- 
tion on the part of the fixer to adjust the 
different parts so as to work to the best ad- 
vantage. 

To write up an article of instruction on this 
subject is pretty sure to come in for a good 
share of criticism. 

I have read articles on the subject in textile 
papers which, although I considered them very 
instructive and likely to infuse new ideas, 
another fixer on the same kind of looms would 
say the fellow didn't know what he was talking 
about. 

Now, it is well known that most loomfixers 
have some system or rule whereby they set the 
shoes and other parts of the picking motion ; 
but how few there are who are able to get a 
good smooth pick on every loom on their section 
after they have been used a few years, es- 
pecially where the casting for repairs do not 
come from the loom works. 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 13 

Owing to certain differences in the position 
or condition of the various parts which go to 
make up the picking motion of the loom, there 
can be no fixed rule for the setting of shoes. 
The shoe shaft may be bent or twisted a little, 
or the hole in the shoe may be a trifle out of 
true, etc. Such things will throw the curve of 
the shoe out of its proper position and I may 
s^ right here that a little difference in the 
shoe may make a great difference to the pick, 
especially on the short shoe No 86. 

In many cases the rule that the fixer works 
by does not make proper allowance for these 
things, but they do try to counteract them in 
other ways which do not always come out right. 

If the circle, or curve of the shoe is not in 
such a position as to give a smooth, steady 
stroke, it must follow that there will be un- 
proportionate strain on some part of it. That 
extra strain, not being accomplished gradually 
but coming on suddenly, causes a jar which 
weakens the pick, thus causing the loom to 
bang off. Unless the position of the shoe is 
changed, it becomes necessary to lower the 
sweepstrap to gain more power. Again, it 
naturally follows that in putting on more power 
in this manner you are getting too near the 
wrong end of the lever (picking stick), which 
increases the jar ; thus increasing the liability 



14 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

to bang off. The consequences are an uneven 
pick, which causes filling kinking on certain 
classes of goods and a number of other troubles 
too numerous to mention. I will mention here 
one system generally used by fixers, some of 
whom taking them all through are good fixers. 

They will set the shoes both alike so far as 
the distance is concerned, measuring from the 
back bearings. Next, they will set both shoe 
shafts the same distance below the cam shaft 
and set them level in all cases. Now this is 
where they make a mistake, as by setting the 
shoes according to that rule it becomes 
necessary in some cases to set the picking roll 
forward on one side more than the other in 
order to get both sides to pick together. 

I will now give the method which I have 
found to give better satisfaction. 

First, hang a plumb-line over the front of the 
cam shaft directly opposite the toe of the shoe, 
if it is the short shoe No. S6. This rule is for 
the style of looms that have a two to one gear- 
ing. Set the shoe just to touch the line on 
both sides. The long shoe, used on the equal 
geared looms, will come about an inch forward 
of the line, or a little more according to con- 
dition. 

Then turn the shaft by hand until the pick- 
ing rolls come within one-sixteenth inch of the 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 15 

line, if they are not both alike make them so. 
Then measure the distance of the lay or edge of 
the shuttle-race from the breast beam ; turn the 
crankshaft one pick to the exact position it was 
in before, and set the next two rolls in the 
same way, that is, one sixteenth of an inch 
from the plumb-line. Be sure in the first in- 
stance to have all the rolls the same size. 

Next set both sweep sticks in the same posi- 
tion on the pickerstick and get the sweep up to 
within two inches of the bunter. 

It will now probably be found that, although 
everything is set the same on both sides, the 
pick does not start at the same time on both 
sides ; if they do, then all right. But if not, it 
shows that the circle of the shoes are not both 
alike, or at least not in the same relative posi- 
tion to the circuit of the rolls. 

In this case do not begin to set the picking 
rolls different to get both sides to pick together, 
they are all right, it is the shoes that are wrong ; 
but to adjust matters so that they will come 
right requires a considerable amount of skill 
and gumption. In the first place take the side 
that is picking late and lower the shoe shaft at 
the back and raise it at the front. By so doing 
you will alter the position of the circle of the 
shoe, which will necessitate the shortening of 
the sweepstick a little, thus making it pick 
earlier. 



16 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

If you cannot get it to start soon enough in 
this way, perhaps the best thing to do would 
be to try another shoe ; or you may turn your 
attention to the other side and by doing just 
opposite to what you did before you may make 
it start a little later ; which will tend to bring 
about the same results. I do not favor setting 
the back casting up any higher than the back 
rail if it can be avoided. I do not think it 
gives a very easy pick if it is raised up too 
much. 

The same object may be accomplished by 
packing the s,hoe up on the front and down at 
the back with one or two thicknesses of tin on 
the side which is picking late, or visa versa 
on the other side, but to do that you would 
need to file the square hole out more on the 
opposite side to where you intend putting your 
packing. 

As I said before, it requires sound judg- 
ment in doing these things so as not to go too 
far either way or you will effect the steadiness 
of the stroke. 

When the pick is too slow at the commence- 
ment but makes up for lost time towards the 
latter part of the stroke, the reason is that the 
shoe is too high at the front in comparison 
with the back, or the back is too low in com- 
parison with the front part of the shoe. 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 



17 



Looms having a pick of this description run in 
a sort of plunging manner but they usually 
give a good pick. 

But if, on the contrary, the pick starts very 
suddenly at the commencement of the stroke, 
keeping very much the same speed all through, 
there will be a poor pick. It will pick as 
though it was going to drive the shuttle through 
the wall, but in reality it will scarcely get 
through in time to prevent the loom from bang- 
ing off. 

If you turn the loom slowly by hand a well 
regulated pick will start slowly at first and 
gradually increase in speed for about three- 
quarters of the way and then diminish the rest 
in the following manner. Take the measure- 
ment from the shuttle-race to the breast beam 
at the commencement of the pick, push the lay 
back one-fourth inch at a time, and the picker- 
stick at the top, or on a level with the picker, 
Fortheist. 1-4 in. should have moved 3-4 in. 



2nd. 
3rd. 
4th. 
5th. 
6th. 
7th. 
8th. 
9th. 



3-4 in. 
I in. 

I 1-4 in. 

1 3-4 in. 

2 1-4 in. 
2 3-4 in. 
I 1-2 in. 
I in. 



18 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

If the pickerstick makes its stroke at or about 
that rate and does not give a smooth, easy pick, 
I should look for the cause anywhere rather 
than in the shoe. 

In the first place the friction pulley or belt 
may be in poor condition. A loom will very 
rarely give a steady, even pick if the belt and 
friction is slipping. 

The back support of the shoe shaft may have 
been neglected until the hole is worn to twice 
its proper size through the want of oiling, in 
which case we can hardly expect as steady a 
pick as we would like to have. 

A poor pickerstick may cause a lot of annoy- 
ance in various ways. It will not only give a 
poor, uneven pick which is not to be depended 
upon, but, unless the spring is very strong, it 
will be slow in getting back and be liable to 
get caught in the boxes. 

A badly shaped binder will also have its 
effect and cause the loom to bang off unless 
the power is greater than would otherwise be 
necessary. If the binder-pinhole in the boxes 
is badly worn at the top it will have about the 
same effect as a poorly shaped binder. 

Now we will suppose the pinhole is worn out, 
say about one-eighth of an inch. The binder 
will wabble at both ends when the shuttle is in 
the box. The shuttle will get in the top box 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 19 

easier under these conditions when there is one 
in the second box than it would if the second 
box was empty. Because, when one shuttle is 
in, it holds the pin out to its extent and holds 
off the pressure of one spring, consequently 
the check on the shuttle is not always the 
same. The result may be either the shuttle 
rebounding in one instance or not getting fully 
in, in the other. 

The picking shoe is not always at its best 
when it is new ; in fact quite often, probably 
owing to its position, it does not give a first 
rate pick at first, but after it has run a few 
days or weeks it begins to give a good pick ; 
while in some cases it is not at its best until it 
is pretty well worn down. 

If when a new shoe is put on it gives a good 
easy pick at the start the probabilities are that 
it will not last very long. 

I have previously mentioned the propor- 
tionate movement of the pick to that of the lay. 
Now when the shoe is worn down sufificiently 
to give that proportion it is at its best and will 
stay there for a long time if it is not disturbed. 
In a great many cases they never reach that 
condition. 

Generally the pick should commence when 
the crank is straight up, but in weaving very 
tender filling it is better to have it start a little 



20 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

earlier so as to give the shuttle more time to 
get through the shed ; thus enabling you to 
take off a little power. 

-THE CAUSE OF OCCASIONAL 
WEAK PICKS." Who is there that has run 
a section of looms for any length of time, par- 
ticularly the kind that takes the short picking 
shoe, that has not been bothered at times with 
a loom banging off about once in half an hour 
or so without any apparent cause ? And the 
question has often been asked, " What is the 
reason } " Some say it is the belt or the fric- 
tion that is slipping. Perhaps that is partly 
the cause, but there is something else ; because, 
if you take particular notice, you will find that 
it always happens out of the same box. 

Others lay the blame on the speed or shaft- 
ing not running steady ; but in this case I 
should like to know how they account for the 
loom in front and the one behind running all 
right ; they are run from the same shaft. 

I am satisfied that the principal cause is in 
the picking shoe, which is in such a condition 
that it will do its work right so long as every- 
thing else is right. But there is one of the 
binders that is not shaped right, though that 
alone is not sufficient to cause it to bang off ; 
but if the belt or friction should happen to slip 
just on the moment when the shuttle is being 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 21 

picked out of that particular box (which they 
are Hable to do at any time), then there is a 
combination of three things acting simultan- 
eously, which might not occur once in ten min- 
utes but when it does it results in a weak pick, 
and the loom bangs off. 

Now if the position of the shoe could be 
changed, or a new one put on that would give 
a more perfect stroke, so that no part of it 
would sustain a loss of power, nor receive any 
extra strain, the trouble would be entirely 
overcome. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE SHITTLE BINDER. 

The binder, though it looks so simple, plays 
a very important part in the running of a loom ; 
if it is not shaped properly it may not only fail 
to check the shuttle the same every time, but 
also effect the delivery. 

There may be a good strong pick delivered 
out of one box and a very poor weak one out of 
the next. 

A good binder will receive the shuttle and 
check it properly under a varying speed, while 
one not properly shaped and in poor condition 
would allow it to rebound a little when the 
speed is high, and perhaps not let it get well in 
when it is a little lower. 

Then again, if the picker is pretty well worn, 
the shuttle tip would stick in it and either 
cause the box to jump or prevent it from drop- 
ping. The remedy often applied in this case 
is to chip the picker around the hole when the 
real cause of the trouble is the binder. All 
fixers will at times remedy the effect, but a 
good fixer will get at the cause as much as 
possible. 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 23 

Of course the effect of the shape of the 
binder on the running of a loom depends a great 
deal on other things in connection with it. 
For instance, some looms seem to go all right 
with any old shape of a binder, while others 
will not go at all unless they are just so. A 
great deal depends on the kind of a pick the 
loom has got. 

Xake it on a loom where the picking motion 
is not in good condition, you will find a great 
unevenness of power. There will be a good 
strong pick out of one box, while another one 
will always give a poor weak pick. And yet 
you can make a good even pick out of every 
box by simply shaping the binders properly if 
you know how to do it. 

On the other hand, if you let the binders 
stay just as they are and put on a new picker- 
shoe, you will get quite a different pick, one on 
which the binder does not seem to make any 
difference. 

Writers on this subject differ extremely on 
the way a binder should be shaped to give the 
greatest satisfaction. Some say that they 
should be bent so that the greatest curvature 
will be in the centre, or in some cases nearer 
to the mouth of the box. 

Others say that there is but one correct way 
to bend a binder and that is to have it bear on 



24 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

the shuttle as near the heel of the binder as 
possible. 

It is amusing, if not interesting, to see the 
excellent string of reasons in support of their 
statements. 

In theory, it is no doubt advisable that the 
binder be bent so that the most prominent part 
will be near the mouth of the box, but in 
practice we find very few fixers who bend them 
that way. 

If it is bent too prominently near the mouth 
of the box it will give the shuttle too great a 
shock before it has got half way in, and the 
rest of its course is accomplished too easily, so 
that the least variation in power may cause it 
either to rebound or not get quite to its 
destination. 

If the loom ever throws a crooked shuttle it 
is liable to be checked with the tip an inch or 
more outside the box, thus hindering it from 
dropping and causing the shuttle to fly out. 
It will also cause the shuttle when entering the 
box to swing outward enough to strike the box 
edge and cut the filling. 

The best way to bend a binder in my 
opinion is so that the shuttle at its full width 
will come into contact with it about three 
inches from the center, that is, at the com- 
mencement of the binder's full surface, and 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 25 

steadily press it outward until the shuttle gets 
the same distance past the centre, at which 
position the binder will be out to its full extent. 
Thus the binder at its full depth of surface, 
and the full length of that surface only, will 
come into contact with the shuttle. Binders 
that are bent properly on this principal will 
give the shuttle a steady, gradual check, and 
not cause the opposite end to strike the edge 
of the box and cut the filling. 

As far as checking the shuttle is concerned, 
there is more than the shape to be taken into 
consideration. The surface should bear evenly 
on the shuttle all the way along, that is to say, 
that part of the binder which comes into con- 
tact with the shuttle. If some part of it is 
bearing on the shuttle very hard, while in other 
places it barely touches, it will be in a poor 
condition, whether the most prominent part is 
nearest to the mouth of the box or to the other 
end. 



Note.— See Chapter XVII. 



CHAPTER IV. 



LOOM BANGING OFF— CAUSES, RESILTS 
AND REMEDIES. 

A loom that is constantly banging off is sure 
to have a serious break sooner or later if it is 
not stopped. 

Amongst the numerous breaks that are caused 
in this way may be mentioned : the protector 
casting underneath the breastbeam ; teeth 
broken out of the driving gears ; broken crank 
shaft ; the side frame, and a host of other things 
too numerous to mention. While the different 
things that will cause a loom to bang are fully as 
numerous or more so than the breaks that are 
a direct result of it. But whatever is the cause 
there is a remedy for it, though both the 'cause 
and the remedy are sometimes hard to find. The 
principal causes are friction or belt slipping 
especially on heavy work ; too short a sweep ; 
poor pickerstick ; shuttles not getting well into 
the boxes or rebounding ; loose bolts or castings 
pertaining to the picking motion, etc. 

If the cause is not apparent, the first thing 
to do is to see that the belt and friction are 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 27 

doing their work properly. This can easily be 
seen by the way the loom runs and how it 
starts up. The remedies for these can be 
found in the first chapter. 

Generally the stroke should come up to 
within two inches off the hunter, but to get the 
best results it may have to be varied a little 
according to circumstances. One loom will 
have a fine pick if it comes up to within one 
inch off the bunter, while on others it will need 
to be at least one and one-half inches shorter. 
Good judgment is needed to obtain the best 
results. 

The next thing to be done is to go around 
and examine the castings, bearings, studs, etc., 
and see that they are all secure. Then start 
the loom and watch the shuttles as they go 
into the box, they may seem to be all right for 
awhile and then one of them may not get clear 
up to the picker, or it may rebound and bang 
off the next pick. If it is rebounding the 
binder is at fault ; but if it does not get well in 
it may be the binder or a weak pick. The 
shuttle may be unduly retarded by too close a 
shed. 

An uneven pick may be the result of a com- 
bination of circumstances, in fact a large per 
cent, of the problems which a fixer daily 
encounters are caused by a combination of two 



28 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

or more causes ; different parts of the loom 
which are so adjusted that on account of the 
relative position or condition of some other 
part, will not work just right. 

Many a time does the fixer go about the 
loom readjusting different things which he 
thinks may have some effect on the trouble, 
and all unconsciously he breaks the combination, 
and the trouble is apparently remedied. The 
next thing to be done in this matter is to 
examine the pickerstick, and if you find it badly 
worn by the picker, chip it out with a hammer 
and wood-chisel so that it will not bind under- 
neath or above the picker. If the stick is 
cracked or split — so that it is not reliable, re- 
place it with a good one, the best you have got. 
I am speaking now of chronic cases, where the 
loom has been bothering you for some time and 
when you are or ought to be getting down to 
business in good shape with a determination to 
conquer. 

See that it throws a straight shuttle ; you will 
find instructions on this subject in Chap. VIII. 
If the shuttles themselves are crooked or worn 
out of shape, either put in a new set or straight- 
en them up by rubbing them on a large sheet 
of sand paper laid fiat on a good floor or on a 
straight board made purposely for the job. 
Some fixers prefer to use a plane ; it makes no 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 29 

difference so long as you get them straight. 
See that they are all the same size. 

Whenever a fixer has a job of this kind 
on his hands he should put as much time as 
possible around that loom until he is perfectly 
satisfied with it and not be in a great hurry to 
get away from it. If he has to leave it tempo- 
rarily, let him return to it again and he will 
ultimately conquer if he has got enough gump- 
tion for a loomfixer. 

When a fixer is working around a loom he 
may save himself a great amount of future 
trouble by promptly attending to any little 
matter which he should happen to notice going 
amiss, on the '* stitch in time saves nine " 
principal. 

When putting on a pickerstick he may 
notice that the pickerstrap or powerstrap is 
nearly worn out or breaking, in which case he 
should put a new one on while he is at it and 
not wait for it to break or it may break some- 
thing else. 

Some of the gears which run the handmotion 
may be just a little loose, and it is a great 
temptation to let it go, it does not seem to be 
doing any harm ; but if it is allowed to run that 
way very long, it will spoil the key way so that 
it will be difficult to get a good fit when it is 



30 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

fixed and it will have to be fixed sooner or later 
anyway. 

The fixer who attends to little matters like 
these promptly, will keep his section of looms 
in good condition ; but the man who lets every- 
thing go as long as it will, is letting them get 
all run down, for which the weaver suffers as 
well as the production of the mill. 

Another thing which should not be over- 
looked in this matter is flat-sided pickerballs. 



CHAPTER V. 



FILLING AND WARP KINKING. 

Filling kinking generally can be stopped by 
one or more of the following remedies : tight- 
ening up on the binders or shaping them so 
that the shuttle will not rebound ; reducing the 
power on the pick if it will stand it without 
banging off ; getting a good tension on the fill- 
ing so as to keep it tight ; and setting the har- 
ness cylinders well forward so as to close the 
shed early.. 

But there are cases of filling kinking some- 
times, which for a time seems to defy all at- 
tempts to remedy them ; in which case the 
fixer must get down to business with a grim 
determination to conquer at all cost. 

In the first place get the loom into good 
order, paying particular attention to the picking 
motion. If you can get a good smooth even 
pick you will be able to run with less power on 
than would be possible with an ugly jarring 
pick as there is always a certain amount of 
irregularity and unevenness in connection with 
such a pick. 



82 AT N LEY'S T.OOMFIXING. 

If the shuttles arc not all alike there must be 
a general straightening up of them. It may be 
that there are some odd ones amongst the set 
that arc worn rounded, on the back or bowed 
in at the front and so forth ; straighten them 
up either with a plane or otherwise. Next put 
a good sized brush into them so as to get as 
much tension on the filling as it will stand 
comfortably. 

There arc other ways of getting extra ten- 
sion on the filling besides the regular way of 
putting waste in ; one way is to take a small 
bunch of bristles out of the hand brush and fix 
them into the side of the shuttle so that the 
ends will rest on the bobbin at the nose. 

Another way is to tack a piece of thick felt 
about an inch square into the shuttle near the 
eye, and run the filling through it, first having 
punched a hole in it for that purpose. This is 
practical only on fine yarn. Set the bottom 
cylinder about seven teeth ahead of the box 
motion, and the top one about three or four 
ahead if circumstances will allow. On some 
weaves it will cause the filling to kink close up 
to the selvedge if the top cylinder is set more 
than two or three teeth ahead ; also on heavy 
work it may cause the boxes to jump, especially 
on old looms. It will no doubt seem strange 
to a fixer who has not had a wide experience, 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 33 

talking about the setting of the harness cyhn- 
ders causing the boxes to jump, but it is a fact, 
nevertheless, and there are a great many queer 
things about a loom besides that. 

It happens on some weaves that the har- 
nesses change only from one position, that is, 
from top to bottom or from the bottom to the 
top only. In these cases the shed does not 
close on the pick as quickly as it would in 
ordmary cases where the harnesses change 
from both positions. The filling has a ten- 
dency to kink on that account, especially on 
piece-dyes where there are no risers after the 
backing pick. The trouble in this case can be 
overcome l)y having the listing harnesses 
change on that pick. 

It is sometimes very difficult to stop filling 
kinking on goods that have a fine tight weave 
on the face and a loose back. Each backing 
harness rising about one pick in eight, makes it 
kind of loose on the backing warp and is liable 
to have a few slack threads in the shed, and on 
account of the filling being so light, it easily 
kinks on them. 

In this case if the backing warp is on a 
separate beam, the whip-roll may be lowered to 
advantage so as to draw the threads tighter on 
the top side. But if it is a one beam warp 
(which is often the case on this kind of weaves) 



M AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

the best way would be to drop all the backing 
harnesses and raise up the face and put a lease 
rod through. Fasten it back about fourteen 
inches from the harnesses. 

The general idea among loomfixers is that 
the early closing of the shed would prevent the 
filling from kinking by closing on it before 
the shuttle is stopped, thus hatching the filling 
before it had time to get slack. Such is the 
case only to a certain extent as the early closing 
of the shed effects it a good deal further than 
that. 

For proof of this, take a case where there is 
about half a cut woven with the shed changing 
late, and set the cylinders well forward for the 
rest of the cut, and notice the difference in the 
width of the cloth on the roll. It will be found 
to be about an inch narrower, the reason for 
this is that the filling is taken up more in cloth 
woven with an early shed than with a late one. 
The slack of the pick is taken up evenly along 
the entire width, or at least is spread out more 
so that it becomes unnoticeable, while in the 
former case the whole slack may be taken up 
on a single thread or in one place and thus 
becomes a kink. 

Cloth that is woven with the shed closing 
early will be a little narrower but longer to the 
same length of warp than would be the case 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 35 

with the shed closing late with the same tension 
on in both cases, because in the former case 
the filling takes up more and the warp less 
than in the latter. Of course the difference 
will be very small in some cases; it varies 
according to the weave. 

When it is necessary to set the bottom 
cylinder forward as much as seven teeth ahead, 
care must be taken that it does not connect 
with the vibrator gears before the levers get 
clear down and the lock-knife in. To prevent 
this it may be necessary to set the claim shaft 
a little earlier and perhaps the cam which 
operates the lock-knife. This cam is set on 
the shaft with a small pin, but often it has to 
be cut off so as to move the cam ; it will hold 
without the pin. 

KINKS ON THE WARP THREADS. 

Warp kinking may be overcome by adjusting 
the cylinders and whip roll, chiefly the former, 
and keeping the warp tight. Generally, setting 
the cylinders back a little is all that is required. 
When the backing and face warp are both on 
one beam, and the back weave is loose and the 
face tight, the whip roll may need to be low- 
ered a trifle. 



CHAPTER VI. 



FILLING CITTING. 

There are two distinct kinds of filling cutting. 
Firstly, the kind that is done in the cloth by 
the beating up of the reed; secondly, cutting 
that is done outside the cloth through some 
defect of the loom or shuttle. In the first 
case the fault is probably in the filling being toa 
delicate or tender to stand the strain that is 
brought to bear on it by the heavy beat of the 
lay, which is necessary to get the required 
number of picks in per inch. It occurs chiefly 
where heavy weight goods are made with a fine 
weave and fine single yarn filling. 

It is a very difficult job to remedy this 
trouble by the adjustments of the loom as 
there is generally a tendency towards filling 
kinking on this class of goods, the remedy for 
one being antagonistic to that of the other. 
Perhaps the best way to set the cylinders in 
this case is about four teeth ahead on the 
bottom and even with the box motion on the 
top. The filling will probably need steaming 
to take the curling propensities out of it, so as 
to better overcome its tendency to kink. 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 37 

In such cases as this, if the management could 
see their way to take out about two or three 
picks per inch, and reduce the number of 
threads in the warp, so as to allow of making 
the filling a little more substantial, it would 
improve matters a good deal. 

If the warp is poorly dressed, some of the 
threads would probably be slacker than others 
which would put extra friction on the filling, 
while others would be just as much too tight, 
being so much stronger than the filling, would 
cut through it. 

There should be care used in the selection of 
a reed for this class of goods. A V shaped 
edge on the wire is not just the thing in this 
case, it is a little too sharp. 

Filling cutting that is done outside of the 
cloth is caused in most cases by being caught 
between the shuttle and the entrance of the 
box. It may be the shuttle that is going 
crooked and striking the box edge, or the box 
may be too low, causing the shuttle to swing 
outward at its outer end, thus striking the edge 
of the box and chop the filling. 

If the filling is cutting in one particular box 
the probabilities are that the binder is the 
cause. To find out if such is the case, take 
the binder out and put it into the next box 
where the filling is not cutting, and put the 



38 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

Other one in where it is cutting and watch the 
results. 

If it don't cut any more in either box it 
shows that the binder in combination with 
some other defect was causing the trouble ; but 
by changing binders the combination was 
broken. If the filling cutting follows the bind- 
er into the other box, then it is clear proof that 
the binder is the sole cause, of which take due 
notice and govern yourself accordingly. 

But if on the other hand the cutting still 
continues in the same box as before, it is 
hardly likely that the binder can have anything 
to do with it, and it would be advisable to look 
elsewhere for the cause. 

If the cutting cannot be stopped in any other 
way it can be accomplished by putting a 
leather collar around the edge of the box, if 
that is the place where the filling is cut. It 
should be about one-eighth of an inch thick, 
one inch wide, and put on good and tight. 

But perhaps a better way, or at least better 
looking and more durable way of fixing it in 
this case, is to file the mouth of the box where 
it is cutting the filling on the lower half only, 
thus the shuttle will only strike it on the top 
half. Very little filing is necessary to accom- 
plish this if it is done in the right place. Some- 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 3^ 

times when the picker is giving out in some 
place it will cause filling cutting. 

The pins in the shuttle side or the shuttle 
eye will cut it if they are sticking out too far. 
If there is any sharp or rough places on the 
box or shuttle race where the filling could get 
to, they should be filed off and rubbed down 
smooth. 

The temple will cut it if it touches the reed 
or shuttle race. It should be set clear of these 
anyway as it would spoil either of them if al- 
lowed to strike against them. 

Amongst other things that will cause the 
filling to be cut or broken may be mentioned a 
bruised spot on the face of the binder ; or a 
broken eye or splinter in the shuttle. 

There is a kind of filling cutting which hap- 
pens very rarely on worsted goods unless it is 
coarse and heavy, but often on woolen goods if 
the filling has been wound on a winding ma- 
chine. 

What I refer to now is cases where the fill- 
ing flies around in the shuttle too much, 
increasing its liability to get caught anywhere 
in the box when the shuttle is being picked 
out. There is a cause for this of which the 
fixer has no control, consequently too often he 
must remedy the effect. It is far better to 
remedy the cause when it is practical and that 



40 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

is in having the filling wound the opposite way. 

I imagine some critic who does not know any 
better, pooh poohing this, and asking what dif- 
ference the way the filling is wound can make 
to the wearing of it. Now I have had my 
schooling on this subject as well as others and 
know just what I am talking about. If twist 
filling is wound contrary to the twist, it will 
fly around in the shuttle a great deal more than 
it would if wound the right way, that is the way 
of the twist. That is to say, the way that it 
would be if it was run onto shuttle bobbins on 
the twister in the first instance. 

But if- it has been wound over again, the 
wrong way, and the result of it (filling cutting) 
has got to be remedied in the loom, perhaps 
the best way to do it is to bore a small hole in 
the side of the shuttle and fix some bristles in 
to it in such a way that the ends will rest on 
the tip of the bobbin. This will prevent it from 
flying around too much. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE FILLING STOPMONON 

To adjust the parts: — Bring the lay forward 
until the dagger gets close up to the knock off 
finger No. 8, when it is held up to the limit. 
Then set the breast-beam, stand so that it will 
just touch the dagger and no more. Next, 
push the lay back and pull on the shipper 
handle, having previously disconnected it or 
knocked the belt off. Then adjust the fingers 
on the shipping rod which runs parallel with 
the breast beam, underneath, so that the one 
on the right hand side of the stand will bring 
the knock-off finger up to the limit, and the 
one on the left-hand side to bring the guard 
lever, ('on the old style) one eighth of an inch 
below the top of the frame. Next set the 
dagger, raising slide so that the feeler wires 
will clear the shuttle by about three sixteenths 
of an inch ; and so that there will be three 
eighths of an inch space between it and the 
knocking off finger. 

On the later style of stopmotions, the dagger 
guard is made to be raised with a steel spring, 



42 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

when the shipper is released ; and that is the 
time to make the adjustments. If properly ad- 
justed, the guard will positively protect the 
knock-off finger for the first pick when starting 
up, whether the filling is under the wires" or 
not. It is a great improvement on the old 
style. 

THE KNOWLES' FILLING STOPMO- 
TION, though such a delicate piece of mechan- 
ism is simple in construction and very rarely 
gets out of order unless some of its parts are 
worn down too far. 

In case of trouble on account of it failing to 
stop the loom properly, first, see that the feeler 
wires are straight and not too long, and that all 
the parts can work freely ; not being choked 
up with waste and dirty grease. If the trouble 
is not found there, see that the dagger touches 
the breast-beam stand between the bottom of 
the slide and the knock-off finger, but not to 
rest on it too much or it will be liable to re- 
bound over the top of the finger, especially if 
the dagger or finger has got the corners worn 
or rounded off ; in which condition the dagger 
should be filed square or replaced with a new 
one. The No. 8 casting should be ground 
down square at the top corner, it is too hard to 
file. The dagger is also liable to rebound if 
the socket casting is worn down in the bearing 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 43 

so that it wabbles sideways, if the dagger 
strikes or rests too much on the frame. If 
these things are attended to, and other parts 
properly adjusted and secure, there should be 
no trouble on that score. 

But there is another way in which any stop- 
motion will, under some conditions annoy both 
fixer and weaver, and that is when it unneces- 
sarily stops the loom too often. This is most 
fti evidence when the filling is too light or soft 
to stand sufficient tension to draw it properly 
under the wires, on heavily threaded warps that 
are of a long-hairy nature. The course to be 
adopted in this case is to keep the warp pretty 
tight and have a good sized shed, and a good 
tension on the filling. Do not allow the 
shuttles to rebound nor to box too easily. 

See that the catch does not slip too easily 
on looms that have the brake attachment, and 
that the lock-lever on the shipping motion does 
not release too easily where there is no brake 
attachment. Some fixers claim to have com- 
pletely remedied this trouble when everything 
else has failed, by cutting the hole deeper into 
the lay, into which the feeler wires drop, and 
taking full advantage of it in lowering the 
breast-beam stand. 

The frequent stopping of a loom is not al- 
ways caused by the filling motion ; sometimes 



44 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

the corner is worn off on the lock-lever, al- 
lowing the shipper to gradually release itself ; 
in which case the former should be taken off 
and filed down so that it will lock itself se- 
curely. 

Another thing that will sometimes stop the 
loom occasionally is the connecting rod which 
runs underneath the lay, when it is held too 
far forward or too low, so that it strikes against 
the knock-off finger. If such is the case it can 
be felt by putting your finger onto the end of 
the trigger behind the shipper handle. 

Or if the protector strikes against it once 
in a while on account of the binder not being 
held out far enough, by taking hold of the end 
of the trigger you can feel the bump in either 
case. 

In cases where the stop-motion lets one or 
two broken picks go by without any apparent 
reason, you should be careful to see that the 
casting No. 8. comes fully up to its limit, be- 
cause if it does not, in some cases the dagger 
will slip off the end of it once in a while before 
it has pushed it back far enough to do its work. 

THE POSITION OF THE ROCKER 
ARM : The loom stopping unnecessarily too 
often, is sometimes caused by there being not 
enough motion on the dagger between its po- 
sition when the wires are resting on the filling 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 45 

and when they are clear down ; hence the 
practice resorted to, of cutting the hole deeper 
as stated above. 

Now this can be accomplished in most cases 
if not all, where it is necessary, without cutting 
the hole deeper. But to explain clearly to such 
as have never thought of this matter, it would be 
as well to point out the fact that the amount 
of motion between two points depends on the 
position of the rocker arm ; that is the small 
arm which raises the wires. If it is nearly per- 
pendicular when the wires are down, it will 
communicate very little motion to the dagger 
to raise the wires level with the bottom shed. 
But if the arm is set so as to be nearly horizon- 
tal between these two points, there is the full 
length of the arm of a leverage, which will give 
all the motion that is necessary. Thus when- 
ever you contemplate cutting a deeper hole in 
the lay to get a greater motion on the dagger, 
just try raising up the rocker arm a little or as 
much as it will allow and you will be able to get 
all the motion you want. Of course this will 
require a readjustment of all the other parts in 
connection with the breast beam stand and on 
the shipper rod. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



CROOKED AND FLYING SHUTTLES. 

The causes of a crooked shuttle, or shuttle 
going crooked, are quite different from the 
causes of the shuttle flying out ; of course in 
aggravated cases the shuttle may go so crooked 
as to fly out, but that is the exception rather 
than the rule. 

Some looms have a chronic trouble of throw- 
ing the shuttle crooked once in a while, though 
in a great many cases it never does it so bad as 
to send it flying There are other cashes where 
the trouble dates back only to the starting of 
the warp, or to some other alteration. 

In the first case it may be caused partly by 
a bad pick which causes too much of a jerk on 
the loom, the crank arms are probably loosely 
connected, which would allow a certain amount 
of shakiness on the lay. These two together 
may be enough to divert the shuttle materially 
from its course if not to cause it to fly out al- 
together. 

The hole at the inner end of the picker-rod 
may be so far worn out as to throw the rod out 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 47 

of its proper pitch. If it is closer to the box 
at its outer end than at the reed end, the ten- 
dency will be to throw the shuttle away from 
the reed ; whereas if it is too much the other 
way, though its tendency would be toward the 
reed it would be liable to rebound on account 
of it being too much that way, especially if the 
lay is too loosely connected and shaky. The 
g^icker-rod should be set pretty near true with 
the boxes, but just a little further off at the 
outside end than at the inside end ; about one 
sixteenth of an inch should be sufficient. 

Then again the lay end may be out of true. 
In trueing up the lay end the box and shuttle 
race should come perfectly level, if the loom 
itself is set level ; which can be determined by 
putting a level on the breast beam and back 
girt. The picker slide should be properly in 
line with the box, and just as level. A straight 
line, perfectly parallel with the box should have 
a tendency towards the reed of about three 
eighths or one half an inch at the width of the 
loom. 

When this trouble dates back only to the 
starting of the warp, the cause is probably in 
the reed, but possibly in the shed or boxes if 
there are more boxes in use than before. An 
unsteady box motion may be the cause. The 
shuttles may need straightening up and the 



48 AINLEY'S LOOMP^IXING. 

binders getting into better shape. A new 
picker or even a new pickerstick may be needed. 

When a new warp is put into a loom, care 
should always be taken to see that the face of 
the reed comes perfectly even with the box 
guide. If it does not come up even, it should 
be brought forward sufficiently by means of a 
strip of leather or card board put in between 
the reed cap and the lay sword. But if the 
reed comes too far forward there is too much 
packing used in the setting of the lay end, and 
some of it should be removed. On looms of 
recent date the reed may be set forward or 
backward by means of the adjusting screws 
which may be found alongside of the screws 
for tightening up the reed. 

Whenever a new set of shuttles are put into 
a loom, if they do not strike the hole in the 
picker properly there should be new pickers 
put on as well. 

A poor shaped binder in combination with 
an ugly pick are as likely as anything to be the 
cause of this trouble. 

PACKING OUT THE PICKER ROD 
STAND : When it is necessary to pack the 
picker rod stand out on account of the hole in 
the lay sword being worn out too far, leather 
packing being generally used, it is necessary 
that it be tapered off a little thinner on the side 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 49 

nearest the pickerstick than on the outer side, 
because the bolts, being nearer to the outer 
edge would draw it out of line with the hole for 
the other end of the rod, if the packing was 
the same size on both sides. 

SHUTTLE FLYING OUT. This thing 
rarely occurs on a well kept loom unless it is 
by accident, such as a broken picker-stick, or 
picker strap, or a thread getting entangled in 
the shed in such a way as to hinder it from 
opening properly. In some cases the shuttle 
stops once in a while with the tip an inch or 
two sticking out of the box and the result is 
the box does not go down and it flies out. 
This is caused generally by an uneven pick or 
a badly shaped binder, probably both. The 
shuttle sticking in the picker is another cause, 
the remedy for which you will find in Chap. IX. 
A hard pick in combination with a shaky lay 
and a poorly shaped binder will often cause the 
shuttle to fly out. 



CHAPTER IX. 



BOX JLMPING. 

This is a subject on which it is very difficult to 
write so as to correctly instruct one how to 
proceed to remedy the trouble. 

Happily it is something which does not often 
occur ; but when it does, it is a problem that occa- 
sionally gives a fixer a great amount of trouble. 
He may work on it for hours ; yes and days, 
off and on, and do everything that reason, ex- 
perience, and other fixers could suggest, and 
find the problem still there unsolved. I have 
seen such to be the case more than once, and 
seen it completely stopped in about two 
minutes after everything else had failed, by a 
thing almost so simple as to appear ridiculous. 

Of course it does not often happen that way. 
This brings to my mind one case in particular 
where the fixer had done everything in the way 
of setting the harness cylinders, putting on 
new gears and so forth to take the vibration 
out as much as possible all to no avail. 

They seemed to get into position with a jump 
on the upward motion. I noticed that the top 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 51 

box-cylinder was fully a tooth behind or later 
than the bottom cylinder, so I suggested that 
there be a small piece chipped off the next 
tooth on the bevel gear so as to allow the top 
cylinder to be set forward one tooth ; it was 
done so and there was no more jumping there. 
Two minutes work, if it had been known at first 
what was wanted. The boxes will jump in 
tjaeir downward motion, on very heavy work 
when there is a high number of harnesses used, 
if the harness cylinders are set in a certain po- 
sition. That is, when the bottom cylinder is 
set about seven teeth ahead, and the top one, 
two or three ahead, the boxes are liable to 
work unsteadily in their downward motion. 
But if the top harness cylinder is set back a 
couple of teeth, they will work steadily. This 
is something which does not appear as if it 
ought to affect the box-motion but it does nev- 
ertheless ; probably on account of the lurch in 
the headmotion when the heavy strain of strik- 
ing the shed is suddenly released at a critical 
point. This kind of box jumping does not 
occur much on looms where the head motion 
is driven by eccentric gears because the motion 
can be set to accommodate the needs of the 
case. 

A great many of the troubles mentioned in 
this book are things that are peculiar to old 



52 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

looms and consequently do not occur much on 
looms that are comparatively new, or if they do 
in some cases, the extreme remedies mentioned 
for use on old looms are probably not needed. 

There are some things that may be neces- 
sary to be done in cases of this kind of box- 
jumping, the fixer to use his own judgment as 
to which is most needed in his own particular 
case. They are, such things as the various 
gears and connections between the driving 
power and the headmotion being either worn 
down, loose, or not deep enough. 

There are a great many connections between 
these two points and if they are all worn down 
even a little, it amounts to quite a trifle alto- 
gether ; ''every mickle makes a muckle" as they 
say in Scotland. It may be advisable to put 
on two or three new gears where they are worn 
down the most ; or the fixture block in the 
clutch arrangement may be loose, in which case 
the upright shaft should be taken out and a 
new key fitted in. The same thing should be 
done in all cases where the fixtures that are 
keyed on have worked loose. 

The gears should be meshed as deep as pos- 
sible, not to bind. By these means the vi- 
bration of the headmotion cylinders may be re- 
duced to a minimum. Another kind of box 
jumping is caused by the shuttle sticking in 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 5S 

the picker. The shape of the binder is to a 
great extent responsible for that, because if it 
is not shaped so as to check the shuttle to the 
best advantage, it will need to bind harder than 
is necessary under proper conditions. The box 
slide or guide, nearest the reed should be 
square with the shuttle race, because if not, the 
boxes may have a tendency to bind under very 
little obstruction. 

' The setscrews at the bottom of the lay sword 
may happen to become loose, they do once in a 
while, and allow the rocker casting to get out 
of line, and bind on the box rod tube with the 
result that the boxes do not drop properly. 

See that the packing behind the picker is big 
enough for the picker to just clear the shuttle. 
BENDING THE BOX-ROD. In some 
cases where the shuttle boxes do not set level 
it is advisable to bend the box rod just a little 
to bring them right. When this is the case it 
should be bent at the top, close to the casting 
so that the entire length of the rod below it 
will still remain straight. A very little alter- 
ation will generally be found sufficient. 

It is seriously wrong to try to make the 
boxes set level by the adjustment of the guides, 
because in that case they do not have an even 
bearing on the supporting arms ; hence they are 
liable to bind on the slightest provocation. 



CHAPTER X. 



BOBBIN SPLITTING. FILLING KNOCKING 
OFF. THE TEMPLE. 

BOBBIN SPLITTING ON THE LOOM 

is caused by the shuttle striking the top of the 
box between the bobbin nose and the shuttle 
point, the momentum of which causes the 
spindle to jump up and catch the bobbin on the 
end of the box shelf or top; but what causes it 
to do this is the problem that the fixer must 
solve. Usually all that is necessary is to level 
up the boxes even with the shuttle race and 
lower the shed if it is too high; but there are 
obstinate cases that require further treatment. 
When this is the case, it is generally caused by 
the loom throwing the shuttle crooked in such 
a way that when it is going through the shed it 
resembles a boat on the sea; up and down. In 
the first place, the shuttles may be old and not 
only badly worn down but very much out of 
their proper shape ; in which case they need a 
thorough straightening up or replacing with a 
new set. Some fixers claim to have found it 
necessary to take the race plate off and plane 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 55 

the lay down on account of its being sprung out 
of true, but I do not think that is ever neces- 
sary on a Knowles loom. Anyway, whatever 
makes the shuttle go crooked, it will be worse 
if the picking power is too strong. It may be 
necessary to get a different kind of a pick on 
the loom by changing the position of the pick- 
ing shoe, and getting a good smooth pick on 
the loom in general. The vibration or shaki- 
tless should be taken out of the lay as much as 
possible, and the top cylinder should not be set 
too far ahead. 

FILLING SLIPPING OFF THE BOBBIN. 
It sometimes happens that the bobbins are too 
soft either through the fault of the yarn or the 
spinner, and the loom fixer has a hard job to 
make them weave without the yarn slipping off 
in lumps, causing a great amount of waste and 
lost time. When this is the case there should 
be an extra effort made to reduce the power on 
the pick if such a thing is possible. The loom 
should be made to pick as evenly as possible. 
It stands to reason that if there is an uneven 
pick, it will either knock the filling off when 
the pick is too strong or the loom will bang off 
when it is weak ; perhaps both. 

There are quite a few things that will cause 
the pick to vary in strength. If the shoe is so 
far worn down or out of its proper position as 



56 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

to necessitate the setting of the sweep stick 
very low down on the pickerstick to get power 
enough, the pick is not to be depended on, as 
the least slipping of the belt or friction would 
make a great deal of difference to the pick. A 
slipping belt or friction will make a difference 
anyway but as this subject is treated fully 
in the first chapter, it is not necessary to dwell 
on it here. 

Great care should be taken in shaping the 
binder that it is not made to check the shuttle 
too suddenly at the commencement nor al- 
low it to box too easily. 

Do not have the packing behind the picker 
too hard ; it should be more in the nature of a 
cushion in this case. 

Get the shuttles to go as straight as possible 
so that they will not strike against the side of 
the box. 

The weaver should press or knock the filling 
down hard on the bobbin before shuttling. 

THE TEMPLE. Almost any weaver can 
set an up-to-date ring temple so that it will do 
its work in ordinary cases, but on weaves that 
are either extremely loose, tight, or delicate, 
the fixer's skill and experience has got to be 
brought into action. 

It frequently happens on light picked goods 
that the first (smallest) ring of the temple. 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 57 

marks the cloth, and even if it is taken out and 
the space left vacant the next one will take up 
the strain and leave a mark just as bad. In 
this case it can be greatly helped by taking the 
second ring out and putting the first one in its 
place, leaving the first place vacant. Do not 
set the barrel up very high. There are times 
when the fabric is of such a delicate nature 
tjiat all the rings will leave a mark. In this 
case the best way to fix it is to take them all 
out but the two largest, and give them a hold 
of the selvedge only. They will be found suf- 
ficient in goods of this nature. 

In heavy weight goods that have a very tight 
weave it is sometimes a hard job to make the 
temple hold the cloth out to its full width, on 
account of it taking up so much. In such 
cases everything has got .to count. The temple 
must be set well in, so as to give it a full hold 
on the cloth. The barrel must be set up pretty 
close to the cap. It must be set forward as 
near to the reed as possible without touching it. 
It is customary to run a strip of sandpaper 
about four or five inches wide around the sand 
roller on each side to keep it tight, if it has a 
tendency to get loose. I do not think there is 
anything gained in this case by pointing the 
temple in any degree towards the breastbeam, 
and certainly not towards the reed. 



58 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

Do not set the cylinder any farther forward 
than is necessary. 

It is possible to turn the ring holders back 
a little from their regular centre position, and 
it is sometimes advantageous to do so in ex- 
treme cases like this, but if such a thing is re- 
sorted to, the cloth will have to be kept tight 
or it would lose more in its backward move- 
ment than it gained. 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE HEADMOTION. 

The setting of the headmotion in some cases 
is of as much importance to the work in the 
loom as the condition of the picking motion is 
t(S the running of the loom. 

It is not necessary nor advisable to go over 
the ground again with regard to the way the 
headmotion should be set in making the dif- 
ferent classes of goods, as that is discussed in 
other parts of this book, chiefly in connection 
with the different subjects on which the setting 
of the headmotion can have any effect. But I 
will here endeavor to discuss the principal 
troubles that a fixer occasionally has to deal 
with in connection with the same. To a 
learner it is a very complicated piece of mech- 
anism, nevertheless it is a beautiful motion 
throughout, and to one who thoroughly under- 
stands it, it is simplicity itself. 

Still, there are times when an old head- 
motion will be very near too much even for a 
good fixer, unless he goes to work and replaces 
the principal parts with new fittings, such as 
vibrators, cylinders, lockknife, gears, etc. 



60 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

Harness skips are the principal trouble in 
connection with the headmotion ; the different 
things that will cause them are too numerous 
to mention, and in some cases very difficult to 
find out. Take it on an old loom where you 
are using twenty-six or thirty harnesses, half of 
which are flopping up and down about every 
pick, on a heavy job to boot, things have to be 
got down pretty fine, as in these cases the 
loom will make skips on the least provocation 
or, to the fixer's mind, without any provocation 
at all. A great cause for harness skips in such 
cases, and one which very few young fixers 
would ever dream of being the cause, is the pin 
or shaft which supports the vibrator lever, when 
it is bent a little, but not enough to be noticed 
when the levers are all on, also when it has 
worn the hole about one-eighth inch too big in 
which it sets. 

The best way to fix this if it is worn down 
pretty bad, is to have a new bar turned out and 
have it made with the head a little larger than 
the old one ; and as the hole in the frame is 
worn out of shape it should be reamed out to 
fit the head of the bar. But if it is not worn 
down much, nor badly bent, it would be just as 
well to turn it half way round, tighten it up, 
and plug up the loose end with a piece of sheet 
metal of some kind. If the bar is badly bent. 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 61 

but not worn much, it should be taken out and 
straightened. It is sometimes advisable on 
heavy work like this to put a little more spring 
on the lock knife if it is being forced out by 
the strain on the levers ; or, if the knife is 
badly worn in some places, it should be replaced 
with a new one. When there are a few of the 
first teeth on the vibrator gears that are half 
worn through, they sometimes cause the lock 
knife to be forced out, which results in skips. 

If the last tooth in the vibrator cylinder is worn 
through in some places it may possibly fail to 
properly deliver the vibrator to its destination, 
thus allowing it to fly back again. On light 
work it may be made to go but it is not always 
safe on heavy work. 

Rivets sometimes work out and get mixed up 
among the gears, cause a skip, and then drop 
out of sight, leaving the fixer to hunt for the 
cause of the skip. 

A crooked bar in the chain may cause a 
racket in the headmotion and sometimes a 
skip. It should be replaced with a straight one. 

Vibrator levers that are crooked or sprung 
out of their proper shape may bear against the 
next one on either side and prevent them from 
dropping quick enough. The space allotted for 
each of the vibrators is necessarily very small 
and consequently does not allow of much 



62 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

crookedness. Harness skips made in this way 
will be on the face, as the harness stays up one 
more pick than is called for, in fact, hardly ever 
a skip is made on the back, unless there is a 
broken ball on the chain. This is the reason 
why the Knowles loom has such a reputation 
for making so few harness skips, because when- 
ever they are made they can be so quickly seen 
and remedied. 

Whenever a large number of harnesses are 
used and there is trouble with harness skips, it 
is a good thing to take all the vibrators out and 
fix them up good and true, filing the tips, 
tightening the rivets that hold the chills when- 
ever such things are needed, replacing badly 
worn gears, etc. 

Occasionally cases will be found where the 
oil and dust have been allowed to dry on, or get 
so thick and gummy that it prevents the vibra- 
tors from working freely. When this is the 
case they should be well cleaned while they are 
out. If there are any broken teeth in the 
comb they should be taken out and fixed or 
others put in. 

Harness skips are sometimes caused by the 
vibrator gear rebounding and flying back, thus 
letting the harness down again before the shuttle 
has got clear through the shed. In such cases 
there will be a short skip near the edge of the 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 63 

cloth on the back. Too much vibration in the 
driving power of the headmotion is the prin- 
cipal cause of this. Some of the gears or other 
connections must be either loose on the shaft 
or worn down on the teeth, consequently the 
top cylinder gives a lurch, landing the vibrators 
too quickly. To remedy this the connections 
between the headmotion need overhauling. If 
any of the gears, etc., are loose on the shaft 
they need a new key fitting in. Do not depend 
on the setscrews to hold them. Perhaps the 
teeth are worn down a little but not enough to 
need a new gear, but would stand setting a little 
closer, thus reducing the amount of play con- 
siderably. If the headmotion is driven by 
eccentric gears, it may be the best policy to set 
a little more on the slow motion at the point of 
delivery. Sometimes setting the top cylinder 
back a little will fix it all right. 

Such things as harness skips, loom-banging, 
etc., require not only gumption but experience 
to properly locate the cause ; a bright experi- 
enced fixer would locate the cause of such 
things instantly in a majority of cases, while 
one of little experience may fool around for 
days, altering everything but the right one, and, 
even when it is fixed, it is often, to some extent, 
by chance. Those who have been there can 
well remember how it was. 



64 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

In adjusting the headmotion, the lock knife 
should get in before the first tooth on the bot- 
tom cylinder engages with the vibrator gear. 

The object of the lock-knife is to hold the 
vibrator gears into the bottom of the cylinder 
while working, thus preventing the possibility 
of harness skips by slipping out. 

The cam which operates it is held in a fixed 
position on the shaft by means of a small pin 
which is fixed into the shaft and fits into the 
cam. But in some extreme cases it is necessary 
to set the cam a little earlier and to do this the 
pin has got to be cut off. By driving the cam 
forward with the hammer, it will cut the pin 
itself and make itself such a tight fit by so doing 
that there is nothing further needed to hold it. 

SETTING THE REVERSE GEARS. 
Turn the cylinder crank so that the lock-knife 
will be clear out and the finger in the center of 
the cam ; then turn the chain shaft so that the 
vibrators will be in the center position, that is, 
half way up and down. Then mesh the gears 
with the key ways in a straight line so that the 
reverse knob or key will slide either in or out 
without moving the gears. New looms have 
setting pins in the teeth of the gears which 
simplifies matters considerably to learners, but 
one often comes across old looms where the 
pins have been knocked out for some reason or 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 65 

other, in which case they have to be set accord- 
ing to the above directions. 

SETTING THE BOX MOTION. Differ- 
ent fixers have different ways of setting the box 
motion. I think the majority of them set it to 
move about one-fourth inch when the protector 
strikes ; while others don't go by the time they 
begin to move, but by the time they get to 
their destination. Personally, I have always 
found it to work satisfactorily to have the 
cylinders set so that the last tooth of the box 
motion part of the cylinders will be in a perpen- 
dicular position when the loom begins to pick. 

ANOTHER VERSION. Bring the lay for- 
ward to the protection, loosen the two set- 
screws that fasten the spur gear on the bottom 
shaft, and with the clutch at bottom of upright 
shaft locked, turn the cylinders forward until 
the box rises one-fourth of an inch, then fasten 
the setscrews. 

In running with skip boxes where the head- 
motion is driven by eccentric gears, the boxes 
should be operated on the slow miOtion, but 
getting well onto the quick motion when they 
are getting to their destination. The reason 
for this being, that in big jumps the boxes in 
their downward motion would not keep up with 
the chain if they were started on the quick 
motion, but would catch up with a jump about 



66 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

the time they get to their destination ; but if 
they are started on the slow motion, they just 
keep the chain tight all the way down. 

The length of motion of the boxes is ad- 
justed by sliding the movable bolt at the center 
of the long lever, or the movable slide at the 
top of the short lever. 

Another thing about the headmotion which 
sometimes bothers a beginner is when the 
chills, through some cause or other, do not 
come just right over the chain shaft, with the 
result that the first tooth of the cylinder gear 
does not strike deep enough into the vibrator 
gear, but gets deeper as they turn around. The 
headmotion is then in a condition to wear the 
gears out very quickly. This condition of 
things may be brought about by the heel shaft 
supporting the vibrator levers being sprung. 

Then again, on turning the cylinder crank 
back after raising the harnesses, the last tooth 
on the top cylinder gear may strike the teeth 
on the box vibrator gears on account of their 
not going down quickly enough. This may be 
caused by the key-way in the reverse gears, or 
the key itself being worn down so badly as to 
allow of too much play in the gears, and con- 
sequently lost time on the chain shaft. Thus 
if it is set right for the forward motion it will 
be too late on the backward motion. In this 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 67 

case it needs a new reverse key or new reverse 
gears, or both. 

The vibrator gears, in their connection with 
the cylinder gears, communicate the motion to 
the jacks, and are so constructed and arranged 
that as the cylinder gear engages with the 
vibrator gear the motion communicated to the 
harness is very slight and easy at first and in- 
creases until it passes the center, then gradually 
decreases to the other extreme of its motion. 
This would not be noticed by a casual observer 
on account of the high speed that the looms are 
run at, but its effect is there nevertheless. It 
is a beautiful motion and is one of the impor- 
tant points of a Knowles loom, on account of 
the ease with which it enables the harness to 
handle the warp. The cylinders are chilled in 
casting and are very hard. 

The vibrator gears are made of the best 
^' boiler plate " iron, punched out, turned down 
to the proper size, and cut by machinery ex- 
pressly for the purpose, then case hardened all 
over. They should work as deep into the top 
cylinder as possible to work nicely. This will 
not affect its position with reference to the 
bottom cylinder. 

The bevel gears which run the headmotion 
are all " keyed " on the shaft. The key is first 
fitted into the shaft and then filed down enough 



68 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

to give it a good tight fit all the way along. 
The gear is then driven onto it. Thus the 
gears can be driven off the end of the cylinder 
shaft without first removing the key. Most of 
the gears on a Knowles loom are fastened in 
this manner, likewise the friction pulley. Those 
where the key is driven in afterwards are the 
large driving gears, and the inside gear on the 
spur shaft. The spur gear on the bottom 
shaft is fastened by means of two set-screws 
and is adjustable. 



CHAPTER XII. 



PITTING A WARP IN. WEAVING UNEVEN. 
SOME CAISES OE SHADY PIECE DYES. 

_ Before putting a warp in, the fixer should 
look the loom over to see if it needs fixing any- 
where where it would be difficult to get to with 
a warp in the loom. 

There are also certain places that should be 
properly oiled, but in too many instances are 
grossly neglected. Such things as the harness- 
strap pulleys, both on top and underneath. 
Places underneath the breast-beam and around 
the stop-motion. It somestimes happens that 
the back stands or bearings for the shoe shafts 
are neglected so much that the end of the shaft 
is almost worn off, and the hole about twice too 
big. 

Every fixer must know that it is impossible 
to get a good smooth pick on a loom that is in 
that condition. Of course the weaver will tell 
you she oiled it up twice a day, morn and noon. 
The fact of the matter is, they don't take the 
trouble to find whether the oiling places are 
choked up or not, but fixers can save themselves 



70 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

a great amount of work and supplies for the 
mill by keeping a sharp lookout for these things 
when the loom is empty. 

Before hooking the wires or straps onto the 
harness underneath, the pulleys at the bottom 
corner should be let in about an inch. After 
they are all hooked up, the wires should be 
carefully evened up so that they will be all very 
near the same tightness, and then the pulleys 
should be screwed out again as far as is neces- 
sary. On heavy work they need to be screwed 
out pretty tight or there will be trouble on the 
top with the stirrups moving up or down on 
the jacks. 

While discussing this subject it would per- 
haps be as well to mention the various kinds of 
streamers in use in different mills for connect- 
ing the harnesses underneath. 

In som€ mills a large V— shaped wire is used 
to hook on to the harness with a strap running 
from the center around the bottom pulleys con- 
necting it to the wire underneath. In other 
places the whole business is leather, from the 
harness to the bottom wire. This kind is too 
elastic or springy and on heavy work there is 
too much lost motion, 

- But the style that gives the greatest sat- 
isfaction in the writer's opinion are those 
made with about ten or twelve inches of 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 71 

leather to hook onto the harness and 
connected with a small V-shaped wire, from the 
center of which a strap extends around the 
bottom pulley in the usual way. Any break- 
ages in this case do not get entangled amongst 
the harnesses as is possible in the first style. 

In putting the reed into position the bottom 
clamp should be drawn up close before the reed 
cap is tightened up, and then tightened up after- 
wards. The reed cap should not be pounded 
down onto the reed as it would be likely to 
spread out some of the dents or otherwise make 
the reed uneven. Care shoud always be taken 
to see that the reed comes just even with the 
guide plate. 

UNEVEN WEAVING or light and heavy 
places in the cloth are caused generally by the 
friction bands not letting the warp off evenly. 
The strip of cloth which is lapped over or tied 
around the beam head is often the cause of this 
on account of it being kept on too long. It 
should be changed when it gets dirty or glazed^ 
otherwise it will stick very tenaciously to the 
beam head like a belt with a good pulling sur- 
face, and when it has got to let go, it does so 
with a big jump. It is sometimes necessary to 
put some powdered blacklead onto them, or rub 
them well with a block of stove polish, chiefly 



72 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

on light weaves. It is customary in some mills 
to do it in all cases. 

There are other things which sometimes 
make the cloth come out uneven, but they are 
not regular occurrences. Take for instance a 
two beam warp ; the top lever may be set too 
high so that it presses against the whip roll, or 
it may be too low, and rest on the beam head. 
In either case it may cause a varying tension 
on the backing warp which in some weaves 
makes a great difference to the appearance of 
the cloth. These things should be adjusted so 
that they will work freely without any ob- 
struction. Then again, I have seen it where 
the flange on the bottom has touched the floor 
in some places and just cleared it in others. 
Such things are liable to give the fixer trouble 
in locating them, as at the time he goes around 
inspecting the beam to see that it is not resting 
on the, floor he finds it apparently all right^ 
clearing nicely by an eighth of an inch. Perhaps 
the best way to fix this matter is to pack the 
beam stand out at the bottom, about three eighths 
of an inch. Shady or apparently uneven cloth 
may be caused by the warp beam being untrue. 
But in this case it is hardly ever noticed except 
on light striped trouserings, woven with dark 
filling, in which case it shows up a trifle shady 
once every round of the beam, and has the ap- 



AINLEY'S LbOMFIXING. 73 

pearance of being caused by shady or uneven 
filling. 

The beams for this class of goods should be 
trued up occasionally. This can be done by 
means of the three rods which run the length 
of the beam. 

The Crompton and Knowles loom works can 
supply the paraphernalia for doing this. 

The class of goods that are the most trouble- 
some in regard to light and heavy places are 
usually those that are extremely light ; woven 
light. The least variation in the tension of the 
warp shows up in the cloth. 

There is another thing about this class of 
goods which it is pretty safe to say is not 
thought of by a majority of the fixers at the 
present day, or up to the advent of this book, 
and that is, that on account of the easy tension 
of the cloth on the sand roller, it becomes pos- 
sible for the bottom or cloth roller to pull 
harder than the sand roller, especially at the 
commencement of the cut. 

Of course it can't pull the sand roller around 
any quicker but as there is some amount of 
play in the gears which run it, there will be the 
same amount of variation in the take up ; re- 
sulting from the sand roller being sometimes 
turned by the gears and at other times by the 
cloth roller. 



74 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

Moral : Do not have the cloth drawn tighter 
below the sand roller than it is above it. 

SHADY PIECE DYES. The cause of 
shady piece dyes can very seldom be traced to 
the loom, though there are manufacturers and 
superintendents who claim that on certain 
classes of goods, if the temple does not hold the 
cloth out somewhere near the full width, the 
filling is not only drawn tighter on the sides 
than in the middle but the warp is chafed more, 
and on that account takes the dye differently, 
thus making what is called shady piece dyes. 

In hooking the harness rods up, the heddles 
should be carefully and properly divided so that 
they will not chafe the warp. It does not show 
up much on the loom but in some cases it shows 
up very streaky after it is finished. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



TO ADJUST AND START A NEW LOOM. 

THE POSITION OF THE WARP ROLL. 

HOW TO HANDLE BAD WARPS. 

TO ADJUST AND START A NEW 
LOOM. First set it perfectly square with the 
line shaft, and properly levelled up by placing 
a level on top of breastbeam and loom sides so 
that the shafting will not bind. 

Use three and one-half inch belts. 

They ought to run empty a few hours to 
limber up, during which time they should be 
thoroughly oiled in all the working parts. 

POSITION OF THE WHIP ROLL. 
The normal position of the whip roll is so that 
a straight line from it to the breastbeam would 
pass exactly midway through the center of the 
open shed, but in odd weaves it may be varied 
a little to advantage. 

For instance, take it on a weave where there 
is two or three times as much warp on the 
bottom shed as on top ; in this case the threads 
oh the top side of the shed would be tighter 
than those on the bottom, which if it was a 
very delicate warp, would seriously effect the 



76 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

weaving of it ; so that in this case it would be 
better to raise the whip roll enough to even up 
the tension on both sides. Then there are 
other times when one side of the shed could be 
run tighter than the other to advantage. As 
an instance of this I will mention the case of a 
double weave with a loose back. There is 
probably one-eighth of the backing warp up, 
each pick. Now to get a clear shed on the 
backing warp in this case, it is necessary to 
have the threads on top rather tight so as to 
draw them clear off of the bulk of warp on the 
bottom shed. In this case only the backing 
warp whip roll would need lowering. 

HOW TO HANDLE BAD WARPS. It 
not unfrequently happens that the fixer is called 
to a loom on account of the warp weaving badly, 
or the thread breaking too much. 

His first move in this case should be to ex- 
amine the condition and position of the broken 
threads. 

If they are a clean cut between the harnesses 
and the fell of the cloth the probabilities are 
that the shuttle is the cause. To find out 
which one is causing the trouble and where the 
defect is, close the shed and push each shuttle 
slowly through the mass of warp threads, both 
ways. By so doing, if there is anything on 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 77 

them that will catch hold of the warp threads, 
you will be sure to find it. 

The cause of the trouble can usually be 
located by simply looking the shuttle over, but 
this way is not quite as sure as pushing it 
through the warp. At the same time examine 
the rivets at the heel of the shuttle spring un- 
derneath. In shuttles that are old and worn 
down they sometimes stand out below the level 
of the woodwork, in which case they would 
strike the race plate and thus chop the threads 
down more or less. This matter can generally 
be fixed by filing the rivets down a little. 

If the broken threads have the appearance of 
being worn down the chances are that it is the 
fault of the "adjustment of some part of the 
loom to some extent, aggravated possibly by 
the shuttles being rough in some places. 

Of course the yarn itself may be poor or not 
have enough twist in it, so that it is necessary 
that the friction on it in the loom should be 
reduced to the utmost limit. 

The first thing to be done in this case is to 
get a good even shed ; not to have the threads 
on one harness about half an inch higher or 
lower than the rest. The shed should be large 
enough for the shuttle to go through without 
touching the top part of it, and the bottom part 
should not bear down too hard on the shuttle 



78 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

race. The loom should be made to throw a 
straight shuttle. 

The shuttles should be rubbed smooth with 
fine sandpaper and some shellac put onto them. 
Do not have the shed to close any earlier than 
is necessary. 

TENDER OR TWITTY YARN. Next we 
have warps that are too tender or twitty to do 
their work without breaking a great deal ; in 
fact it seems sometimes as if they won't stand 
looking at. These kind of warps break out 
most behind the harnesses and the chances are 
that the fixer will not be able to do much for it. 
There is, however, one or two things that he 
should guard against in such delicate work as 
this. If it is necessary to have the shed clos- 
ing early, care should be taken to see that the 
changing harnesses do not reach their destina- 
tion at exactly the same time the reed or lay is 
at its extremity in beating up the filling. Be- 
cause, to put the reason as plain as possible, it 
will be observed that when one harness gets to 
its lowest or highest position it draws the 
threads tight, and if the momentum carries 
them a little beyond the set position (which in 
most cases it does) then there is extra strain 
brought to bear on the threads ; also when the 
lay is beating up the filling it usually brings a 
little extra strain onto the warp. Now, then, 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. , 79 

to have both the lay and the harnesses bringing 
their strain to bear on an extremely tender 
warp at exactly the same time, stands to reason 
that they will have a bad effect on the weaving 
of the warp. 

The best way to avoid it would be to set the 
bottom cylinder far enough ahead for the har- 
nesses to get down just ahead of the lay in 
_ beating up, and the top cylinder a little later so 
'that the harnesses going up will not reach their 
destination until the reed begins to recede from 
the cloth. It would be better if circumstances 
would allow to have both cylinders set later 
than the reed. 

CHAFING AND BUTTONING BEHIND 
THE REED. This trouble can be prevented 
to some extent by having a good sized rope 
made of yarn to move back and forth with the 
lay on top of the warp between the reed and 
the harnesses. It is a good thing to wet it at 
intervals when the trouble is very bad. 

The harnesses should be set far enough back 
so that the lay will not bump against them, par- 
ticularly in this case. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



CHAIN BUILDING. CAUSES OF PICKER- 
STICK SPLITTING. BROKEN PICKING 
ARMS AND OTHER THINGS. 

CHAIN BUILDING, in a great many of 
our fancy worsted mills, is an item of study 
which, in the writer's opinion, does not receive 
due consideration. I think almost all fixers 
will agree with me in the statement that in too 
many cases the person whose duty it is to make 
out the chain drafts does not study it suf- 
ficiently to give the best possible boxmotion. 
The result is that there are more skip boxes or 
bigger jumps than is necessary, and the shuttles 
that are used the most are running into a blind 
box all the time or, at least, a great part of it. 

There seems to be a sort of impression on 
their minds that the boxes on both sides should 
work exactly in unison with each other ; that is 
to say, if it is necessary to have a big drop on 
one side there must be a corresponding jump 
on the other side. This not only causes more 
wear on the loom, but also more work for the 
fixer and some annoyance to the weaver. 

It may be advisable to work it that way on 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 81 

looms that pick on both sides every pick, but 
there are a great many looms now in use that 
have the sliding picking motion on. It is a great 
improvement to a loom ; there is a better pick, 
it runs lighter, and there is less wear in general. 

When a person has a complicated chain draft 
to make out, he should study over it carefully 
and try it different ways so as to get the best 
possible results, both for the weaver and the 
loom, and not rush it through in any shape. 

Now about the setting of the links, different 
chain builders have different ways of doing this. 
Some put both links inside on one bar and out- 
side on the next. Others place them one inside 
and one outside on every bar; in fact, any old way 
will go on chain stuff that has been worn awhile, 
though even in that case it is safer and just as 
easy to have some system and uniformity of 
arrangement. But when it comes to new chain 
stuff, they being made to fit so snugly, it is ab- 
solutely necessary to have some regularity in 
the way the links are put on, so as to prevent 
the chain from gathering up under the vibrator 
levers and causing a smash-up. 

Also, it will be observed on examining the 
links closely, that they are not perfectly flat, 
but that in the punching out process one side 
is made slightly concave while the other is cor- 
respondingly rounded, consequently, if the links 



82 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

are carelessly put together and should happen 
to come back to back, the chain would work 
so stiffly that there would be danger of it 
gathering, as before stated. Thus, when the 
chain stuff is new, the links should be carefully 
put together with the rounded side of one to 
fit into the hollow of the other. 

Now while we are on this subject, it would 
perhaps be as well to mention another item 
which is destined to become an important at- 
tachment to the fancy loom in these days of 
large overchecks, plaids, etc., and that is — 

-THE CHAIN MULTIPLIER." Its use- 
fulness may be imagined to some extent when 
one goes through a weave room and sees about 
half of the looms running with a chain on about 
seven or eight yards long, very nearly all of 
which is simply a repetition of some eight or 
twelve bars. 

Now we will take for example a pattern that 
is woven four and four on two shuttles about 
seven times over before the overchecking comes 
in. 

There are 56 bars if run on the regular chain 
but if the multiplier is used, it would be accom- 
plished with 14 on the regular chain and 8 bars 
on the mutiplier; 22 in all. 

One bar is required on the regular chain for 
every movement of the boxes. Where the 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 83 

fancy part of the chain comes in, it has got to 
be built in full on the regular chain. 

The multiplier chain operates one lever only 
and is all blanks with the exception of a 
''raiser" which is required whenever a change 
in the boxes is called for, consequently the 
amount of labor in building it is greatly re- 
duced. 

Its workings are accomplished by means of 
two star wheels and the necessary finger cams 
for operating the same, only one of which is in 
operation at the same time. It is not necessary 
to explain its workings in detail further than to 
say that when the pattern does not require a 
long chain, or when the multiplier is not needed, 
it can be disconnected and the regular chain is 
in operation without any further complication. 

Pattern looms in particular should be fitted 
up with a chain multiplier on account of the 
great amount of chain building that is required 
in a pattern room. 

They can be attached at any time, though 
not originally put on. 

PICKERSTICK SPLITTING. It would 
hardly be advisable in this work to try to enum- 
erate the many different things that will cause 
the pickersticks to split or break in general, as 
the fixer can in most cases find that out for 
himself. But there is one way in which a great 



84 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

many of them that are broken could be avoided, 
and that is when they are being spUt at the 
bottom. 

It does quite frequently occur that one loom 
will split about three pickersticks in as many 
days and continue doing it if the loom is not 
fixed, or unless it should happen to get one of 
extraordinary strength. This is most in evi- 
dence where the short shoe is used, that is, on 
looms of the two to one gearing style. 

In such cases perhaps the best way to 
remedy the trouble would be to first try to ease 
up on the binders a little if they are binding 
very hard. It will probably be necessary to 
alter the shape of them a little to accomplish 
this. Next select a good sized soft pickerstick 
bunter and put it on. Then select a good likely 
pickerstick and wrap it good and tight towards 
the bottom with a narrow strip of leather, or 
(as some fixers prefer) put a rivet through the 
bottom and that will, in most cases, fix it all 
right. 

But in case that is not sufficient, you will 
have to either adjust the picker shoe differently 
so as to obtain a smoother pick, or put on a 
new one. If the loom is picking very hard 
(ugly), it would be as well to do this in the first 
instance. 

PICKING ARMS BREAKING. There 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 85 

are a great many more picking arms broken in 
some weave shops than in others ; fixers who 
have moved around much must have noticed 
this. 

A good fixer may work a long time in one 
place and scarcely ever have one broken, and 
he may go to another place to fix the same style 
of looms and he will have one or two broken 
every week. 

In large mills where there are two or three 
weave looms of the same kind of looms and 
using the same supplies, it has been noticed 
that in some rooms there are scarcely any 
broken at all, while in others it is a regular oc 
curence, and the question has often been asked : 
"What is the reason ? " 

The writer has worked in a good many weave 
rooms. Some of them were good high rooms, 
requiring the use of a long belt for the looms? 
while others were very low, necessitating the 
use of short belts ; but he has never noticed any 
great amount of breakages except in the latter 
style of rooms, where the looms were run with 
a very short belt. He consequently feels sat- 
isfied that the cause is the rigid running of the 
loom on account of there being an insufficiency 
in the give of the belt. 

This applies more especially to looms where 
the two shafts are equally geared. 



86 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

THE BOX ROD AND SPRING. It not 
infrequently happens that the spring on the box- 
rod has worked in one position so long that it 
has worn grooves in the rod at the bottom to 
such an extent that it binds on the socket or 
tube ; consequently, if there is any obstruction 
to the rising of the boxes, something has got to 

break. 

Thus, if at any time there is a broken lever 

which raises the shuttle boxes, or a broken cast- 
ing under the lay end which carries the sup. 
porting rolls for the lifter chain, or a broken 
chain, the chances are that it is caused by the 
box-rod being stuck in the above mentioned 
manner. 

This can be easily and quickly set right by 
turning the spring around so as to get it out of 
the rut. 

These springs are tempered so that they will 
close right up and still spring back to their full 
length ; but if such does not happen to be the 
case they should be drawn out again. They 
should never be packed up with an additional 
piece of spring or any other substance. 



CHAPTER XV. 



SHUTTLES. THE SAND ROLLER. TWO 

HOLES IK THE PICKER. FILLING 

CATCHING AROUND THE PICKER. 

OILING UP. 



SHUTTLES : There are various things 
about shuttles which will sometimes annoy 
both the fixer and weaver if they do not prop- 
erly understand them. For instance, we some- 
times find one or two shuttles in an old set 
that don't go very well in a certain box, though 
they work all right in the other boxes. Not that 
the box is particularly wrong, because the rest 
of the shuttles work in it all right. Some 
weavers, when they find that to be the case, 
do not attempt to run a shuttle into a box 
where it does not go well, but will use it in the 
other boxes. That is to say, they will have a 
certain shuttle for a certain box and always 
use them in their own box. This notwith- 
standing the fact that they are all apparently 
the same size. By so doing they can save the 
fixer a little work and themselves some amount 
of lost time. 



88 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

The cause of this difference in the working" 
of the shuttles is not so much in their size or 
weight, but chiefly in their shape, and the con- 
dition of their surface where it comes into con- 
nection with the binder and the back of the 
box. This trouble can generally be remedied 
by shaping the binder a little different in the 
box where it occurs ; but the best way to do, 
when a set of shuttles is in this condition, is to 
take them all out and straighten them up as 
near alike as possible. To do this some fixers 
use a plane, others a scraper, but the way that 
I have found to be most satisfactory is to take 
a sheet of coarse sand paper about 12 by 24 
inches and lay it either on a flat place on the 
floor or on a board made purposely for the job, 
and rub the shuttles on it, on both sides. By 
so doing whichever part of the shuttle is most 
prominent gets rubbed off. Also their sur- 
face is very much alike. Take care to have 
them all the same when through. It wont do 
to straighten up one or two of them and leave 

the rest untouched. They " wont work well 
together. 

• SHUTTLES FAILING TO HOLD THE 
BOBBIN. The cause of the bobbin slipping 
off the spindle catch, may generally be found in 
the shuttle, though often enough it is aggra- 
vated by the shuttle not being checked 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 89 

properly. The catch-spring in the shuttle gets 
sprung too far open and does not hold on to 
the bobbin-head tight enough. In some cases 
it can be closed up enough without taking the 
spindle out ; but if, when the spindle is down, 
the spring does not come up to the cross-bar, 
but stands off about one-eighth of an inch, the 
best way would be to either take out the wire 
cross-bar and close up the catch spring a little 
more or take the spindle out altogether and 
clean out the accumulation of dirt that has got 
there, and oil it well. At the same time open 
out the spindle a little so that the bobbin will 
be kept steady. It is a good thing to make it 
a practice, whenever you get a shuttle to fix, to 
put a few drops of oil on to the working parts 
if they need it, as the chances are that that is 
the only time they will ever get oiled. 

THE SAND ROLLER. When the sand- 
roller is worn down so smooth that it will not 
hold the cloth any longer running in that direc- 
tion, it can be made to go a while longer by re- 
versing the gears and running it the opposite 
way. This can be done on worm take-up mo- 
tions. The same results can be accomplished 
on the rachet wheel take-up by changing the 
sand-roller into a loom of the opposite hand. 
It is sometimes necessary to do this to keep 



90 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

the looms going when there is not a new- 
covered roller available. 

TWO HOLES IN THE PICKER. If the 
shuttle tip makes two holes in a new picker, 
the reason is that the boxmotion is set too early 
or the shuttle is getting in too late, perhaps 
both. If the bottom shuttle gets underneath 
the picker while the other strike it about the 
center, the probabilities are that the bottom 
cylinder is set too early. To set it back with- 
out disturbing the top cylinder you will have to 
cut a piece of the tooth out of the gear on the 
upright shaft, which communicates with the 
bottom cylinder so as to change it over a tooth. 

FILLING CATCHING AROUND THE 
PICKER. There are very few loomfixers on 
worsted goods who are not bothered once in a 
while with the above complaint ; and it is not 
the least of the troubles which he daily en- 
counters. A good way to remedy it is to take 
the picker out and saw off the corner around 
which the filling catches and file it round and 
smooth. If that is properly done the filling 
will not get around it, or at least it will not 
hang onto it. Pickers that are too long are 
often the cause of this trouble. Of course if 
the shuttle tip is striking it too near the top or 
bottom and burring it in any way, it will catch 
on to the filling if it is not fixed. 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 91 

Perhaps it would be as well in the first place 
to try putting in a good sized picker-stick 
hunter and as much leather packing on the 
spindle as the space will allow, not to have the 
stick bear on the picker. 

OILING UP. Some weavers have a way of 
oiling their looms only in the holes that are 
bored out for that purpose (and not always 
there) ; never putting any on at the sides of the 
bearings, which of course is very seldom neces- 
sary if the holes are not choked up. The 
fact is they never seem to investigate whether 
the oiling places are choked up or not. The 
result is that the fixer is occasionally called 
over to a loom and finds the trouble caused by 
some of the bearings being completely worn 
down for want of oiling. Among the principal 
places that are commonly neglected may be 
mentioned the loose belt pulley. This is often 
neglected until it gets very hot or stuck 
altogether. A great many weavers don't seem 
to know that the place to oil it is the hollow 
ledge which encircles the hub. The fixer 
should draw their attention to it. Different 
places around the take-up motion and roller 
ends come in for a fair share of neglect. 
Weavers should oil their loom well when the 
warp is out, in places where it would be dif- 
ficult to reach when the warp is in the loom. 



92 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

Also have some oil left in their oil cans so that 
the fixer can put some on if he sees any 
place that the weaver has missed. The harness 
strap pulleys should not be overlooked. 

On one style of heavy worsted loom, the 
driving gear on the crankshaft is not a solid 
fixture on the shaft ; but two projections of it 
fit, each one of them between two blocks of 
solid rubber encased in a shell, which is a 
fixture on the shaft. This prevents the loom 
from stopping dead solid, with the exception of 
the lay, when it bangs off. Now a good many 
of the weavers (and some fixers for that matter) 
don't seem to know that this needs oiling on 
the shaft, consequently in course of time, it is 
so neglected that it becomes just as much of a 
fixture on the shaft as if it were keyed on and 
the first thing that the fixer knows about it is 
that the crankshaft is broken, and when he 
tries to get the gear off the broken shaft he 
finds that he has got a tough job. If he is 
possessed with enough reason and common 
sense he will know that this is the cause of the 
break. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



POINTS ON LOOM SELECTION. 

The Knowles' heavy worsted loom is sup- 
plied in two styles, the equal geared and the 
two to one geared style. Perhaps a few words 
on this subject would not be amiss, coming as 
it does from a man whose time and experience 
as a loomfixer has been about equally divided 
between the two. 

I am not sure what is the reason for manu- 
facturers in some instances selecting the latter 
style, that is the kind where the top shaft is 
geared to run two revolutions for the bottom 
one, but I do know that the equally geared 
kind are nicer running looms and are less 
trouble to the fixer. 

The difference is chiefly in the picking mo- 
tion. Looms that are geared two to one re- 
quire two picking balls on each side and a 
short shoe, which, by the way, gives a very 
nice pick so long as everything is just right ; 
but it is very sensitive and will give trouble if 
things are not as they should be. 

Now while I am on this subject it would be 
as well to bring to mind the fact that the set- 



94 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

ting of the different parts of the picking mo- 
tion of any fancy loom is quite an art and one 
that is not acquired in a day ; that is, to get 
the best results. There is no fixed rule to 
work by, consequently the greater part of it 
must be set according to the fixer's best judge- 
ment. Thus the more sensitive the motion, 
the greater will be the effect of a piece of poor 
judgement. 

A good steady uniform pick is very desirable 
on all looms, but in making fancy worsted 
goods it is a necessity. The difficulty in ob- 
taining and maintaining the same is far greater 
where two picking balls are required than with 
one. 

I will also say to mill managers who, to some 
extent make their own supplies and castings or 
have them made for them, that the picking 
shoe is a very important item in the make-up 
of a loom and it does not pay to have them 
home made. 

HOME MADE SUPPLIES. One of the 
troubles with shoes that are not made at the 
loom works is that they do not all hang alike 
on the shaft. 

The square hole which should fit good on the 
picking bar has got to be filed out considerably 
and it is very seldom filed out true, the conse- 
quence of which is that the circle or curve is 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 95 

thrown out of its true position, .which causes 
more or less of a jar on the pick. I may also 
say that the race of the shoe is a good deal 
harder when made at the Knowles' loom works 
and consequently lasts longer, than if made 
elsewhere. 

THE TAKE-UP MOTION. These looms 
are also supplied with two different kinds of 
take-up motion, the " rachet wheel " and the 
"worm gear." The former is by far the hand- 
ier of the two in all ways, but it admits " pump- 
ing " by the weaver which, if allowed to be 
carried on, is detrimental in some cases to the 
eveness of the goods. 

It can be used either "positive" or ''con- 
ditional." The action of the " worm gear " 
take-up is " positive " only. 

THE SINGLE PICKING MOTION. The 
Knowles loom can be supplied with the sliding 
picking cam arrangement and it is a good thing, 
as with this device the loom only picks on one 
side at the same time, so that there is a great 
amount of saving in the wear of the loom. 
They also run nicer as there is not as much 
strain on the loom to jar at every pick. 

On fancy work where two or more shuttles 
use the same box there is less chance of hav- 
ing a smash through starting up with the 
shuttles in the wrong box. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



GETTING AND KEEPING A SECTION OF 
LOOMS IN GOOD CONDITION. 

Now we will begin by supposing that your 
section is all run down, that as a result you 
are kept on the go from morning till night 
and don't seem to be able to get the best of it. 
either through lack of time or ability on your 
own part. 

The reason for this condition of things is 
that whenever a difficult job presents itself, 
it is so much easier to fix it for the time being 
by a little patch-work than to make a perma- 
nent job of it, which would take an hour or 
two ; and as it has the appearance of being a 
very big job, you, being very busy with 
other jobs, fix it in the shortest way. 
Thus it gets from bad to worse until if you 
would like to set to and make a decent job out 
of anything, you are so much crowded with 
other things that are on your mind, that you 
have no choice but to patch up, if it can be 
made to go at all. 

Furthermore, whenever you have some dif- 
ficult problem to solve, which all fixers have at 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 97 

times, and which requires the concentrated 
energy of a clear mind, yours is too much oc- 
cupied with a number of smaller annoyances 
on other looms and it cannot concentrate it- 
self sufficiently on this particular case, conse- 
quently your work suffers and you are greatly 
handicapped. 

This has not reference to cases where the 
section is altogether too large, but to those 
whose experience and skill is a little below the 
average, and who are attempting to make up 
for it by hard working. 

I will now proceed to point out a line of 
action that will steadily build up your section 
into good condition and keep it there. I 
would not advise any man to begin over- 
hauling them all as fast as he comes at them 
with the idea of putting them all into good con- 
dition at once, unless he had a large number 
of them stopped for some other reason. 

I should go to work in an ordinary manner 
as I intended to continue ; something like this : 
We will suppose you have a job on the head- 
motion which to make a right job of it, would 
require all the vibrators taken out, a lot of fitt- 
ing to be done, etc. But you can make a 
botching job of it in a few minutes which will 
go pretty fair for a day or two. What you 



98 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

want to do in this case, if you have no other 
big job on your mind, is to get to work and 
make a thorough job of it, if it lasts half a day. 
When it is done, it will be done and your regu- 
lar work will soon be caught up with. But, on 
the other hand if you have two or three warps 
coming out, and there is a loom making harness 
skips, or some other trouble which is bothering 
you to locate the cause, you had better patch 
it up and let it run until you get your warps in 
and overcome your other trouble, and then go 
to work on your big job and fix it ; and while 
you are doing that, let the rest of your work 
take care of itself. 

By following closely this line of action, 
though your work may seem pretty tough for 
a long time, you will ultimately become aware 
that your section of looms is gradually getting 
into better shape until by and bye you find 
yourself with plenty of time on your hands. 
So much so that whenever a big job turns up 
you almost always have time enough or are in 
a position to go right at it at once. 

Your mind is not crowded as it used to be, 
and whenever a difficult problem presents it- 
self you can concentrate your whole energy of 
mind onto it clearly and unhampered ; you are 
master of the situation and your spare time is 
prolific. This is one reason for my contention 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 99 

that it does not pay to crowd too much work 
onto a loomfixer. 

Just the same with shuttle binders ; 
under proper treatment their condition 
in general will improve. But if used in a 
careless, unskillful manner, their general con- 
dition must go worse. Now I will give what I 
have found to be a very good way of treating 
them. We will suppose the shuttle is going 
m too easily and rebounding. The binder 
needs tightening up a little. Of course the 
general rule is to hit it with a hammer or a four 
pound weight which seems to answer the pur- 
pose all right ; but if you take particular no- 
tice, you will find in a great many cases, when 
there is a change in the atmosphere or speed, 
you have to ease up again on it. It will either 
give trouble by causing the shuttle to stick in 
the picker or by not letting it get far enough 
into the box. In using the binder in that man- 
ner, you are shaping it at haphazard. You may 
strike it right but the chances are otherwise. 

What I consider to be a good way to do in 
this case is to take it out and examine its sur- 
face where it comes in contact with the shuttle. 
You will probably find that some parts of it 
have been bearing pretty hard on the shuttle 
while in other places it has scarcely touched. 
Therefore if you strike it on the back where it 



Uifa 



100 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

needs it the most, you will be going in the right 
direction for getting a regular check on the 
shuttle. By that method of working, the ten- 
dency will be towards making the binder bear 
more evenly on the shuttle in all places, and 
not lightly in one place and very hard in 
another. 

When a binder is shaped properly, and 
bearing evenly, it takes more than a little dif- 
ference either in the speed or atmosphere to 
cause it to need tampering with. 

Another way in which a loom gets run down 
and out of order outrageously fast is when the 
oiling of it is neglected. 

But a fixer can work that part of it up inta 
fair shape if he goes about it properly. It does 
not pay to be too aggressive in this matter, in 
fact a loomfixer should bear in mind at all 
times that the conduct of his weavers towards 
him is moulded to a great extent by his own 
conduct towards them. 

If, when you are working around a loom you 
should happen to see a place that needs oiling,, 
you can get the oil can and oil it ; and if the 
weaver does not see you do it you can just 
draw his attention to it once in a while if it is 
occurring too often, and it will have its effect. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



MISCELLANY. 

No loomfixer, however bright he may be, or 
however much experience he may have had can 
^ay " I have nothing more to learn." 

A good loom-fixer is a very valuable work- 
man, but a poor one is dear at any price. 

Do not be afraid of the weaver doing a little 
fixing for himself, rather encourage him. 

A good way to crack or break the bottom 
out of the shuttles, is to be always battering 
the binders with the shuttle in the box. 

Don't explain to the weaver the reason why 
you do so and so to the loom to make it run, 
unless he inquires respectfully, with a desire to 
learn. 

There is a great difference between a loom 
fixer and a machinist, and whenever a loom 
needs the attention of the latter, the loom-fixer 
should take the necessary steps to procure 



102 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

one; remembering that his duty is the adjust- 
ment of the different parts of the loom so as to 
make perfect cloth and plenty of it. 

It is a big mistake and poor economy to 
crowd too much work onto the loom-fixer. 

A well oiled loom needs fully twenty-five 
per cent, less fixing and repairing, than one 
that is neglected. 

A loom-fixer is not always idle when he is 
sitting on the bench. 

A little time spent in greasing the driving 
gears and other gears which run the head 
motion, with tallow, would be spent to good ad- 
vantage. They need it. The regular loom oil 
is not sufficient for that purpose. It is also a 
mistake to use light spindle oil on a loom, 
they need something heavier. 

The best of fixers may learn something from 
a novice. 

It is sometimes necessary to remedy the 
''effect " without touching the cause ;but a good 
fixer will get at the cause as much as possible. 



AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 103 

Pickers will last a good deal longer and give 
less trouble if they are kept in the oil tank 
a few days before they are used. A good way 
to do it is to get a string of them and knock all 
the blocks out. Then run the half inch twist 
drill through them all, and drop them into the 
oil tank. Fish them out two or three at a 
time as they are needed. 

* The fixer who is not master of his work will 
generally know when he sees a weaver coming, 
what the matter is. He knows that for so and 
so, it is the stopmotion out of order ; and for 
another, that the loom is still banging off ; or 
for another, he knows when he sees him coming 
that it is a case of harness skips again, and so 
forth. That man is not the master of his 
work but his work is the master of him, and 
he had better " gird up his loins " and decide 
at once whether such a state of things is to 
continue before someone else decides it for 
him and gives him a chance to look for a job 
more suited to his abilities. 

This book is calculated to be of service to 
loomfixers in the many difficulties which they 
daily encounter and not to teach a person who 
is not a loomfixer how to fix looms, inasmuch 
as it will take a loomfixer to understand it and 



104 AINLEY'S LOOMFIXING. 

put its teachings into practice. If a man can- 
not fix looms without a book, he cannot do so 
with one. 

A good, experienced fixer will usually see in 
a moment what is the matter while an inex- 
perienced man may never see the point. 

It is better to be a successful loomfixer than 
an unsuccessful overseer. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



...LOOMFIXERS 



ATTENTION... 



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PREVENTS SLIPPING INSTANTLY, 
BEST IN THE WORLD. 



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You can dispense with that old pail at the end of your 
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Thousands of Textile Mills use nothing else 

....We have a Free Sa?nple for VOU to prove all this. 
Write us for it today., or to save time order jo^ 50 or 100 lb. 
sticks 



^STEPHENSON M'F'G CO.,^ 



ALBANY, N. Y. 



II 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 




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THOMAS HALTON'S SONS 

Alleg:heny Avenue and C Street, PHILADELPHIA. PA. 

(East of Front Street). 



ADVERTISEMENTS. ili 



Philadelphia Textile School 



— OF THE- 



Tennsylvania cMuseum and School j^ ^ 

t^ ^ of Industrial Art* 



ESTABLISHED SIXTEEN YEARS> 
DAY AND EVENING CLASSES* 



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The Courses of Study include Blending of Stock, Card- 
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For Illustrated Year Book and other information, address 

E* W, FRANCE, Director, 

Broad and Pine Streets, - - - Philadelphia Pa. 



IV ADVERTISEMENTS. 




Always... 
want the 



Loomfixers 
Picker Sticks 



because poor sticks give so much trouble and are dear at any 
price. 

As it is only a stick of wood which has to contend against 
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We use only the best quality Hickory and finish carefully to 
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LEWIS H, LIPMAN, Manufactufcr, 
631 Walnut Street, - - Philadelphia, Pa. 



THE BLUE BOOK „,S„V 

With Patent Index and Textile Maps. 

UNITED STATES and CANADA. 



Contains all Cotton, Woolen, Silk, Jute and Linen Manufacturers, Dj^ers, 
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Looms, Spindles, Knitting and Sewing Machines, Boilers and Water Wheels. If 
they have Dye House or Color Tub. Specialty and full description of goods made, 
name of Selling Agents, or if they sell own goods wholly or partially. If they 
Buy Yarn, the Kind Ussed. A list and full particulars of all New Mills un- 
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A Reliable Ready Reference Book for the office, or you can 
carry the small edition in your pocket. 

Price, Express paid, Office Edition, - - - - $3.00 

" ' Postpaid, Traveler's Edition, ^ - - - - " $2.50 



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401 BROADWAY, ..---- NEW YORK. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 









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01 R TEXTILE 
INSTRICTION BY MAIL 



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affords Mill Men an opportunity to 
improve their positions without loss 
of time from their daily duties. You 
use your leisure evening hours study- 
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A mcrican Correspondence School g^ 



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many foreign 



We have pupils 
states, as well as in 
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for free Catalogue of information, 
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PREPARES MILL MEN 
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VI ADVERTISEMENTS. 

Established I8l6 

THE DRAPER COMPANY 

Incorporated 1896 



HOPEDALE, MASS., Feb. 7, 1 



900. 



We have lately issued a volumi- 
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all progressive mill men. 

Copies will be sent free, on ap- 
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to apply for such information. 

THE DRAPER COMPANY, 

Hopedale, Mass. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



VII 



(rompton Jl linovles loom Mi 

WORCESTER, MASS., U. S. A. 



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VIII ADVERTISEMENTS. 

HEN LOOKING FOR 



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Leather and Rubber Belting 



and Everything Pertaining to 

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You will find the Most Complete Stock here. 



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T ...SUPPLY COMPANY, 

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ADVERTISEMENTS. ix 

Xbe /Iniericdn Workman 



Wz^ots 2ipcl G^ts the ... 
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327 Essex Street, Lawrence, Mass. 

Cc>:tiU patents 

United States and Foreign Patents Secured. 

Opinions on Validity and Infringement. 

Infringement Suits Conducted. 



Coui$ 1). f^arriman, Patent Jittorney, 

(Formerly Examiner of Patents in the U. S. Patent Office). 

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X ADVERTISEMENTS. 

A Man Who Has Bought This Book 

is one who is willing to spend money to obtain knowledge about his 
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business in an attractive, readable form. It is not a newspaper, 
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of the articles which have appeared during 1899 : Others of equal 
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Possibilities of Pattern Making by Drafting, 

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Some Causes of Defects in Textiles, 
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The Action of Acids and Alkalies on Wool and Cloth. 

The Production of Fancy Fabrics, 

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Construction of Box Chains, 

A valuable series of articles by G. Washington. 

How Those Engaged in Weaviftg Should Study Their 
Work, 
by Thos. R. Ashenhurst. 
Estimating the Cost of Woolen Goods, 

A very valuable series of articles by one of our leading 
manufacturers. 



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We also publish the Textile World's Official Directory 
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GUILD & LORD, PUBLISHERS, 
620 Atlantic Avenue, _ - - - Boston 



ADVERTISEMENTS. xi 

David Brown John A. Abercrombie 

Manufacturers of 



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Power Loom Shuttles 

OF EVERY DESCRIPTION. 



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Solicited* 



Office and Factory 
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Telephone No. 457 Ring 3 



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Weld Bobbin & Spool Co. 

Manufacturers of every description of 

Bobbins and Spools 

for Cotton and Cdoolen JVIiUs. 



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HECKMAN 

BINDERY INC. 

^^ J AN 90 

'wB^ N. MANCHESTER, 



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